^ 


JOSEPH   SMITH 

THE 

PROPHET-TEACHER 

A    DISCOURSE 

BY 

ELDER  B.H.ROBERTS  . 


THE  DESERET  NEWS 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH 
1908 


Copyright,  1908. 
By  B.  H.  Roberts. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 
I. 

A  GREAT  POSSIBILITY. 

II. 
HISTORICAL  AMERICANS. 

III. 
WHAT  IS  A  PROPHET? 

IV. 

RELIGIOUS  AND  PHILOSOPHICAL  BELIEFS 
OF  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO. 

Revelation. 

Ideas  of  Deity. 

Of  the  Universe. 

Of  Man. 

Man  and  His  Salvation. 

Of  the  Significance  of  Salvation  and  Damnation. 


THE  PROPHET'S  CORRECTION  OF  SECTA- 
RIAN  ERRORS. 

The    Doctrine  of  Revelation. 

The  Being  and  Kind  of  Being  God  Is. 

Creation,  the  Law  of  Substance. 

Of  Man's  Origin. 

Election  and  Reprobation. 


VI. 

THE     PROPHET'S     PHILOSOPHICAL     DOC- 
TRINES. 

The  Prophet's  Definition  of  Truth. 

As  to  Things — Existences. 

The  Reign  of  Law. 

Change  and  Its  Tendency. 

The  Existence  of  Good  and  Evil. 

The  Intelligent  Entity. 

The  Relationship  of  Intelligences. 

Man's  Freedom. 

Eternity  of  Relations. 

VIL 

THE  PROPHET'S  GENERALIZATIONS. 

VIII. 
AN  AMERICAN  PROPHET. 

America  the  Old  World. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  Inspired  of 

God. 
America  Fortified  of  God  Against  Other  Nations. 


DEDICATION. 

TO  MY  MOTHER,  ON  THE  ANNIVERSARY  OF 
HER  EIGHTY-SECOND  BIRTHDAY,  DE- 
CEMBER 18,  1908. 

FOR  a  long  time,  my  Dear  Mother,  I 
have  desired  to  couple  remembrance 
of  you  with  some  of  my  works;  and 
finally  have  chosen  this  Discourse  upon  our 
great  Prophet-Teacher  to  carry  with  it  that 
distinction.    To  all  who  read  this  Discourse, 
then,  I  desire  to  say  that  I  love  and  honor 
you;  and  that  your  love  for  me  has  ever 
been  an  inspiration  to  my  work. 


JOSEPH    SMITH 

THE 

PROPHET-TEACHER 

A  Discourse* 

TOMORROW  will  be  the  one  hun- 
dred and  second  anniversary  of  the 
birth  of  Joseph  Smith,  whom  most 
of  you  here  present  believe  was  a  Prophet  of 
God.  I  have  been  invited  to  say  some- 
thing about  him  on  this  occasion.  It  is  not  at 
all  my  intention  to  deal  with  the  incidents  of 
Joseph  Smith's  eventful  life;  these  are  fa- 
miliar to  you.  If  I  could  attain  the  full  de- 
sire of  my  heart,  I  would  like  to  set  before 
you  somewhat  the  value  of  this  man  as  a 
teacher  of  great  truths.  I  desire  to  speak  of 
him  as  a  Prophet-Teacher,  that  is,  as  a 
Prophet  acting  in  his  capacity  of  Teacher,  a 
Prophet's  highest  and  noblest  office. 
As  an  introduction  to  what  I  desire  to  say, 
I  shall  read  a  passage  from  a  book  quite 
famous  for  its  literary  merit — it  has  reached 
its  ninth  edition;  also  it  is  famous  for  the 


"This  discourse  was  delivered  at  the  Tabernacle, 
Salt  Lake  City,  on  Sunday,  December  22nd,  1907,  at  a 
Memorial  Service  held  in  honor  of  the  one  hundred 
and  second  anniversary  of  the  Prophet's  birth,  23rd 
December  1805. 

7 


JOSEPH  character  sketches  of  prominent  Americans 
SMITH  of  the  early  decades  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. The  book,  "Figures  of  the  Past," 
was  written  by  Josiah  Quincy  of  the  famous 
Quincy  family  of  Massachusetts,  a  gradu- 
ate of  Harvard,  1821;  mayor  of  Boston 
from  1845  to  1849.  Mr.  Quincy  visited 
Nauvoo  in  May,  1844,  forty-three  days  pre- 
vious to  the  martyrdom  of  the  Prophet,  and 
though  his  "Figures  of  the  Past"  was  not 
published  until  1882,  the  year  of  his  death, 
yet  his  recollections  of  the  Prophet  and  his 
impressions  of  Nauvoo  were  drawn  from  his 
journal,  written  at  the  time  of  that  visit,  and 
numerous  letters  written  to  his  friends  about 
the  same  period.  Mr.  Quincy  places  his  pen- 
portrait  of  "Joseph  Smith  at  Nauvoo"  with 
similar  portraits  of  such  eminent  Americans 
as  John  Adams,  Daniel  Webster,  John  Ran- 
dolph, Andrew  Jackson,  and  the  French  sol- 
dier and  statesman,  Lafayette.  The  passage 
I  am  going  to  read  is  the  opening  paragraph 
of  the  chapter  on  "Joseph  Smith  at  Nau- 


voo." 


I. 
A  GREAT  POSSIBILITY. 

IT  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  some 
future  text-book,  for  the  use  of  gener- 
ations yet  unborn,  will  contain  a  ques- 
tion something  like  this:    What  historical 
8 


American  of  the  nineteenth  century  has  ex-  THE 
erted  the  most  powerful  influence  upon  the  PROPHET- 
destinies  of  his  countrymen  ?  And  it  is  by  TEACHER 
no  means  impossible  that  the  answer  to  that 
interrogatory  may  be  thus  written:  Joseph 
Smith,  the  Mormon  Prophet.  And  the  reply, 
absurd  as  it  doubtless  seems  to  most  men 
now  living,  may  be  an  obvious  commonplace 
to  their  descendants.  History  deals  in  sur- 
prises and  paradoxes  quite  as  startling  as 
this.  The  man  who  established  a  religion  in 
this  age  of  free  debate,  who  was  and  is  today 
accepted  by  hundreds  of  thousands  as  a  di- 
rect emissary  from  the  Most  High — such  a 
rare  human  being  is  not  to  be  disposed  of  by 
pelting  his  memory  with  unsavory  epithets." 

Reading  that  passage  a  few  days  ago,  I 
asked  the  question:  Is  this  rather  remark- 
able semi-prediction  of  Quincy's  in  the  way 
of  fulfillment?  Tomorrow  will  be  the  one 
hundred  and  second  anniversary  of  our 
Prophet's  birth.  It  is  more  than  one  hun- 
dred years  since  he  came  to  earth,  and  sixty- 
three  years  since  he  departed  from  it.  What 
evidence  is  there  before  the  world  that 
would  lead  any  serious-minded  person  to 
believe  that  this  prediction  I  have  read  in 
your  hearing  may  find  fulfillment?  "Cer- 
tainly," men  will  begin  to  say,  "enough  time 
has  elapsed  to  develop  the  character  of  your 
Prophet's  work;  whether  he  built  of  wood, 

9 


jOSEpHhay,  stubble,  or  of  gold  or  precious  stones. 

SMITH  *s  kis  influence  to  be  merely  transient  and 
local  or  did  he  really  deal  with  some  uni- 
versal and  permanent  truths  that  must  re- 
main to  influence  mankind?" 

II. 
HISTORICAL  AMERICANS. 

A"  introductory  to  these  considerations, 
let  us  think  about  some  of  these  his- 
torical Americans  whose  influence 
upon  their  countrymen  is  to  be  eclipsed,  per- 
haps, by  the  "Mormon  Prophet."  Among 
our  patriots  and  statesmen  will  be  remem- 
bered Patrick  Henry,  with  his  doctrine  of 
the  inherent  right  of  revolution  against  in- 
tolerable oppression;  Jefferson,  and  his 
"Declaration  of  Independence"  and  the"Sta- 
tute  of  Virginia  for  Religious  Freedom," 
the  principle  of  which  finally  found  its  way 
into  our  national  and  state  Constitutions; 
Alexander  Hamilton  and  his  political  inter- 
pretation of  the  constitutional  powers  of  our 
general  government;  Webster  and  his  doc- 
trine of  the  sacredness  of  the  American 
Union  of  States — the  statesman  of  national- 
ism ;  Monroe,  with  the  doctrine  which  bears 
his  name,  politically  segregating  the  Amer- 
ican continents  from  Europe,  and  dedicating 
the  western  world  to  free  institutions;  Lin- 
coln, with  his  doctrine  of  the  rightfulness  of 

10 


personal  freedom  for  every  man,  woman  and  THE 
child  of  Adam's  race — the  doctrine  of  the  PROPHET- 
universal  application  of  the  self-evident  prin-  TEACHER 
ciples  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence — 
the  right  of  men  to  live,  to  be  free,  to  pur- 
sue happiness — principles  he  invoked  in  be- 
half of  the  African  race  in  the  United  States. 
Among  inventors  will  be  remembered  Ful- 
ton, Whitney,  Morse  and  Edison;  among 
the  philosophers,  practical  and  speculative, 
Franklin,  Emerson  and  John  Fiske;  among 
the  poets,  Longfellow,  Poe,  Whitman,  and 
Lowell;  among  the  preachers  and  theolo- 
gians, Jonathan  Edwards  and  his  cruel  orth- 
odoxy ;  Wm.  E.  Channing  and  his  Unitarian 
liberalism;  Henry  Ward  Beecher  and  his 
successor,  Lyman  Abbott,  with  their  efforts 
at  reconciliation  of  Christianity  and  evolu- 
tion. 

This  enumeration  does  not  exhaust  the  list 
of  historical  Americans  who  have  powerfully 
influenced  their  countrymen,  but  it  will  not 
be  doubted  that  they  represent  the  very 
chief  of  the  respective  groups  that  have  so 
influenced  their  countrymen. 

Thinking  of  the  achievements  of  these 
great  Americans,  and  weighing  the  influ- 
ence of  each  upon  his  countrymen,  do  you 
not  really  think,  even  with  Josiah  Quincy 
on  our  side,  it  looks  presumptuous  in  us  to 
hold  that  Joseph  Smith  may  yet  exert  a 
greater  influence  over  his  countrymen  than 


ii 


JOSEPH  any  one  of  these,  his  compatriots?    That  is 
SMITH     the  question  I  propose  to  put  on  trial  here 
this  afternoon. 

III. 
WHAT  IS  A  PROPHET? 

FIRST  of  all,  a  word  of  definition: 
This  term  "prophet" — what  do  you 
make  of  it?  Generally,  when 
you  speak  of  a  "prophet,"  you  have  in 
mind  a  predictor  of  future  events,  one 
who  foretells  things  that  are  to  come  to 
pass,  and  indeed  that  is,  in  part,  the 
office  of  a  prophet — in  part  what  is  ex- 
pected of  him.  But  really  this  is  the  very 
least  of  his  duties.  A  prophet  should  be  a 
"forth-teller"  rather  than  a  fore-teller.  Pri- 
marily he  must  be  a  teacher  of  men,  an  ex- 
pounder of  the  things  of  God.  The  inspira- 
tion of  the  Almighty  must  give  .him  under- 
standing, and  when  given  he  must  expound 
it  to  his  people,  to  his  age.  He  must  be  a 
Seer  that  can  make  others  see.  A  Teacher 
sent  of  God  to  instruct  a  people — to  en- 
lighten an  age.  This  is  the  primary  office 
of  a  prophet.  And  now  I  want  to  show  you 
how  well  and  faithfully  our  Prophet  per- 
formed such  duties. 

To  do  this  it  is  necessary  that  I  say  some- 
thing about  the  ideas  prevailing  in  the  world 
at  the  Prophet's  advent  among  men — I 

12 


mean  as  to  their  religions  and  philosophies, 
the  doctrines  by  which  they  were  influenced. 
And  this  not  only  as  to  truth,  but  also  as  to 
error — and  chiefly  as  to  error,  for,  among 
other  things,  a  prophet  must  correct  the 
errors  of  men.  It  is  a  capital  method  of 
teaching  truth — this  correcting  of  errors. 

IV. 

RELIGIOUS  AND  PHILOSOPHICAL 
BELIEFS  OF  ONE  HUNDRED 
YEARS  AGO. 

REVELATION:  At  the  commence- 
ment of  the  nineteenth  century  the 
general  idea  prevailed  in  Christen- 
dom that  a  great  while  ago  a  very  definite 
revelation  from  God  had  been  given ;  angels 
had  visited  the  earth  and  imparted  divine 
knowledge  to  men;  the  Spirit  of  the  Al- 
mighty had  rested  upon  some  and  had  given 
them  understanding  by  which  they  were 
able  to  declare  the  mind  of  God  and  the  will 
of  God.  These  were  prophets.  Some 
prophets  there  were  who  even  talked  with 
God  "face  to  face,  as  a  man  speaketh  unto 
his  friend."  So  communed  Moses  with 
God  (Ex.  33:11)  ;  so,  too,  Isaiah  (Isa.  6:1-6). 
But  while  this  belief  as  to  revelation  in  the 
past  everywhere  prevailed,  orthodox  Chris- 
tendom was  equally  certain  that  no  revela- 
tion was  being  given  in  their  day;  and  not 


THE 

PROPHET- 

TEACHER 


JOSEPH  only  was  no  revelation  then  being  given, 
SMITH  but  neither  would  there  be  any  revelation 
given  in  future  time.  "The  volume  of  reve- 
lation is  completed  and  forever  closed,"  was 
dogma  in  all  Christendom.  There  would  be 
no  future  visitation  of  angels.  No  more 
would  the  heavens  be  opened,  or  man  stand 
face  to  face  with  his  God,  or  speak  to  his 
Lord  as  a  man  speaketh  to  his  friend.  All 
this  was  ended.  The  canon  of  scripture  was 
completed,  and  forever  closed.  That  canon 
consisted  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments; 
all  other  books  were  secular — this  alone 
sacred.  There  was  no  other  word  of  God. 

IDEAS  OF  DEITY :  In  regard  to  deity, 
Christian  men,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  believed  that  God 
was  an  incorporeal,  immaterial  being,  with- 
out body — that  is,  not  material,  not  mat- 
ter; without  parts;  without  passions.  And 
yet,  with  gravest  inconsistency,  they  held; 
that  God  was  of  love  the  essence;  that  He 
loved  righteousness,  that  He  hated  iniquity ; 
that  He  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave 
His  only  begotten  Son  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  on  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life!  Notwithstanding  this 
"love"  and  this  "hate"  God  was  without 
passions!  He  was,  too,  according  to  men's 
creeds,  without  form.  Notwithstanding 
Moses,  one  of  the  God-inspired  teachers  of 
14 


men,  said  that  "God  created  man  in  His  own  THE 
image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  He  PROPHET- 
him;"  and  Jesus,  by  a  prophet  of  the  New  TEACHER 
Testament,  was  declared  to  be  the  express 
image  of  God's  person  (Hebrews  i:  2,  3). 
Notwithstanding  this,  I  say,  men,  in  the 
early  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
were  possessed  of  a  "morbid  terror"  of  an- 
thropomorphism— the  ascription  of  human 
form,  feeling  or  qualities  to  God— as  if  they 
could  escape  it  and  still  hold  belief  in  the 
Bible  revelation  of  God!  Or,  for  matter  of 
that,  hold  to  any  doctrine  of  God  taught 
either  by  religion  or  philosophy.  At  the 
very  least,  if  the  God-idea  survive  at  all,  God 
must  be  held  to  possess  consciousness,  both 
consciousness  of  self,  and  of  other  than  self 
— self-consciousness,  and  other-conscious- 
ness; also  He  must  be  thought  of  as  pos- 
sessed of  volition;  and  what  are  these  but 
human  qualities,  which  present  God  to  our 
thought  as  anthropomorphic?  Strip  God  of 
these  attributes  and  He  is  reduced  to  the 
atheists'  "force;"  to  blind,  purposeless  force, 
that  can  sustain  no  possible  personal  re- 
lationship whatsoever  to  men  or  other 
things  in  the  universe.  As  one  writer  in 
a  great  magazine  recently  said:  "If  we 
are  to  know  the  Supreme  Reality  at 
all,  it  can  only  be  through  the  attribution  to 
Him  of  qualities  analogous  to,  though  infin- 
itely transcending,  the  qualities  which  we 

15 


JOSEPH  recognize  as  highest  in  man,  and  conse- 
SMITH    quently  [highest]  in  the  world  as  we  know 
it." 

But  I  must  pass  by  these  inconsistencies  of 
the  creeds  of  men.  I  shall  have  no  time  to 
discuss  them.  Indeed,  I  must  ask  you  to 
think  with  me  in  headlines,  and  to  think 
fast.  We  have  no  time  for  argument.  We 
shall  barely  have  time  to  pass  over  the 
ground  proposed,  and  must  depend  upon  the 
truth  of  our  statements  being  self-evident, 
or  conceded  to  be  accurate  statements  of 
fact. 

OF  THE  UNIVERSE:  Respecting 
the  universe,  Christendom,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
believed  that  it  was  created  of  God  from 
nothing,  and  that  no  great  while  ago.  "Call- 
ing forth  from  nothing"  was  held  to  be  in- 
deed the  meaning  of  "create."  God  trans- 
cended the  universe;  was,  in  fact,  outside 
of  it;  was  what  an  American  philosopher 
(Fiske)  some  years  afterwards  called  an 
"Absentee  God."  Absent,  "except  for  a  lit- 
tle jog  or  poke  here  and  there  in  the  shape 
of  a  special  providence." 

Down  to  a  period  almost  within  living 
memory,"  says  Andrew  Dixon  White,  in  his 
great  work,  "Warfare  of  Science  with  The- 
ology," "it  was  held,. virtually  'always,  ev- 
erywhere, and  by  all/  that  the  universe,  as 
16 


we  now  see  it,  was  created  literally  and  di-    THE 
rectly  by  the  voice  or  hands    of    the    Al-    PROPHET- 
mighty,  or  by  both — out  of  nothing — in  an    TEACHER 
instant,  or  in  six  days,  or   in   both — about 
four  thousand  years   before   the    Christian 
era — and  for  the  convenience  of  the  dwell- 
ers upon  the  earth,  which  was  at  the  base 
and   foundation   of   the   whole    structure." 
Such  were  the  views  of  men  concerning  the 
universe  during  the  period  here  considered. 

OF   MAN:      Respecting  man,  it  was 
taught  that  while  he  was  created  of 
God,  his  origin  was  purely  an  earth- 
ly one,  his  body  made  of  the  earth,  a  spirit 
breathed  into  him  when  his  body  was  made, 
and  so  man  became  a  living  soul.  All  taught 
that  he  was  a  created  thing,  a  creature. 

MAN  AND  HIS  SALVATION:  As 
to  man's  salvation,  some  of  the 
creeds  taught  that  God,  of  His  own 
volition,  had  foreordained  that  some  men 
and  angels  were  doomed  to  everlasting  de- 
struction, and  others  predestined  to  eternal 
life  and  glory.  Not  "for  any  good  or  ill" 
that  they  had  done  or  could  do,  but  their  fate 
was  fixed  by  the  volition  of  God  alone. 
These  whom  He  would  save,  He  would  move 
by  irresistible  grace  to  their  salvation ;  those 
whom  He  had  pre-determined  should  be 
damned  might  not  escape,  struggle  they 

17 


JOSEPH  never  so  persistently;  no  prayers  could  save 
SMITH  them;  no  act  of  obedience  might  mitigate 
their  punishment;  no  hungering  and  thirst- 
ing after  righteousness,  bring  them  to  bless- 
edness; they  must  perish,  and  that  eter- 
nally! Those  who  perish  in  ignorance  of 
Christ — the  heathen  races — were  damned. 
"The  heathen  in  mass,  with  no  single  defi- 
nite and  unquestionable  exception  on  rec- 
ord, are  evidently  strangers  to  God,  and  go- 
ing down  to  death  in  an  unsaved  condition. 
The  presumed  possibility  of  being  saved 
without  a  knowledge  of  Christ  remains, 
after  1,800  years,  a  possibility  illustrated  by 
no  example."  So  said  those  who  expounded 
this  creed.  Others,  still,  taught  that  infants 
dying  in  infancy  without  receiving  Christian 
baptism  were  damned,  and  that  everlast- 
ingly. By  some,  unbaptized  infants  were 
denied  burial  in  sanctified  ground.  "Hell's 
Half  Acre"  was  a  reality  in  some  Christian 
graveyards. 

OF  THE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  SAL- 
VATION   AND     DAMNATION: 
Salvation  and  damnation  meant,  as 
to  the  former,  the  attainment  of  heaven ;  as 
to   the   latter,    assignment   to   hell.      The 
former,  judging  from  the  descriptions  of  it, 
a    mysterious,    indefinite    state    "enjoyed" 
somewhere  "beyond  the  bounds  of  time  and 
space     *     *     *     the  saints  secure  abode;" 

18 


the  latter,  a  very  definite  place,  with  very  THE 
definite  and  very  hot  conditions,  that  had   PROPHET- 
power  to  endure  and  that  everlastingly,  to  TEACHER 
the  eternal  misery  of  the  damned.     Time 
might  come  and  time  might  go,  but  this  tor- 
ture, undiminished,   went  on  forever.     If 
one  gained  heaven,  even  by  ever  so  small  a 
margin,  he  entered  upon  a  complete  posses- 
sion of  all  its  unutterable  joys,  equally  with 
the  angels  and  the  holiest  of  saints.    If  he 
missed  heaven,  even  by  ever  so  narrow  a 
margin,  he  was  doomed  to  everlasting  tor- 
ment equally  with  the  wickedest  of  men  and 
vilest  of  devils,  and  there  was  no  deliver- 
ance for  him. 

These  were  some  of  the  prevailing  ideas, 
of  the  philosophy  and  the  religion  of  men  at 
the  birth  of  the  Prophet.  A  philosophy  inad- 
equate for  any  reasonable  accounting  for  the 
universe.  A  religion  that  was  derogatory  to 
God  and  debasing  to  man — errors  of  both 
philosophy  and  religion  that  it  was,  I  be- 
lieve, the  mission  of  our  Prophet  to  correct. 
Let  us  follow  him  as  he  proceeds  with  his 
corrections,  his  setting  over  against  every 
error  above  enumerated  the  truth  received 
of  God. 


JOSEPH  V. 

SMITH 

THE  PROPHET'S   CORRECTION   OF 
SECTARIAN  ERRORS. 

HE   DOCTRINE   OF   REVELA- 
TION :  Against  the  sectarian  dog- 
ma of  the  cessation  of  revelation, 
Joseph  Smith  proclaimed  the  reopening  of 
the  heavens.    Against  the  doctrine  that  an- 
gels would  no  more  visit  the  earth,  he  as- 
serted the  visitation  of  angels  to  him,  re- 
vealing the  existence  of  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon, a  new  volume  of  Scripture.     Other 
angels  brought  to  the  Prophet  the  keys  of 
authority  and  power  held  by  them  in  former 
dispensations.     So  came  John  the  Baptist 
with  the  keys  of  the  Aaronic  Priesthood; 
Peter,  James  and  John,  with  the  keys  of  the 
Melchisedek  Priesthood;  Moses,  with  the 
keys   of   the   gathering   of   Israel,   and   so 
following.       Against    the    doctrine    of    a 
closed  volume  of  Scripture,  Joseph  Smith 
asserted  the  existence  of,  and  the  truth  of 
the  American  volume  of  Scripture,  the  Book 
of  Mormon.     Against  this  whole  narrow, 
bigoted  idea  of  revelation  held  by  the  Chris- 
tian world,  he   proclaimed   a   larger   view. 
Instead    of   holding   that   a   few   prophets 
among  the  Hebrews  had  been  visited  of  God 
and  received   divine   inspiration  he  repre- 
sented God  as  saying: 

"Thou  fool,  that  shall  say,  A  Bible,  a  Bible, 
20 


we   have   got   a   Bible,   and   we   need   no  THE 

more  Bible !     Have   ye   obtained   a   Bible,  PROPHET- 

save    it   were   by   the   Jews?       Know   ye  TEACHER 

not  that  there  are  more  nations  than  one; 

know  ye  not  that  I,  the  Lord  your  God,  have 

created  all  men,  and  that  I  remember  those 

who  are  upon  the  isles  of  the  sea;  and  that  I 

rule  in  the  heavens  above,  and  in  the  earth 

beneath;  and  I  bring  forth  my  word  unto 

the  children  of  men;  yea,  even  upon  all  the 

nations  of  the  earth?     For  I  command  all 

men,  both  in  the  east  and  in  the  west  *    *    * 

and  in  the  islands  of  the  sea,   that  they 

shall  write  the  words  which  I  speak  unto 

them.     *     *     *    Behold,  I  will  speak  unto 

the  Jews,  and  they  shall  write  it;  and  I  will 

also  speak  unto  the  Nephites  and  they  shall 

write  it ;  and  I  will  also  speak  unto  the  other 

tribes  of  the  house  of  Israel,  which  I  have 

led  away,  and  they  shall  write  it ;  and  I  will 

also  speak  unto  all  nations  of  the  earth,  and 

they  shall  write  it." 

Joseph  Smith  also  represents  one  of  the 
Nephite  prophets  as  saying : 

"Behold,  the  Lord  doth  grant  unto  all  na- 
tions, of  their  own  nation  and  tongue,  to 
teach  his  word;  yea,  in  wisdom,  all  that  he 
seeth  fit  that  they  should  have;  therefore 
we  see  that  the  Lord  doth  counsel  in  wis- 
dom, according  to  that  which  is  just  and 
true." 


JOSEPH  This  doctrine  unites  in  one  splendid  broth- 
erhood all  the  Seekers  after  God,  all  those 
who  received  inspiration  from  the  Most  High 
and  were  sent  forth  from  the  Divine  Pres- 
ence to  instruct  their  fellow  men.  Joseph 
Smith,  I  say,  unites  their  hands  in  a  splendid 
brotherhood  of  the  God-inspired  men  of  this 
world.  Not  that  all  the  prophets  among  the 
various  races  of  men  were  equally  inspired ; 
not  that  all  came  with  a  fulness  of  truth; 
not  that  all  had  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
But  if  they  brought  not  with  their  message 
the  effulgent  brightness  of  an  all-glorious 
day,  they  brought  something  of  twilight 
which  dispelled  some  of  the  murkiness  of  the 
night  in  which  the  men  of  their  respective 
races  had  walked;  and  those  who  have 
groped  in  the  density  of  darkness  know  how 
grateful  is  the  twilight,  how  much  better  it 
is  than  darkness.  How  noble  is  this  view  of 
God's  hand-dealings  with  the  children  of 
men  in  respect  of  revelation,  as  compared 
with  that  narrow,  bigoted  view  prevailing 
at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
which  held  that  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  con- 
tained all  the  word  of  God  delivered  to  the 
inhabitants  of  the  earth! 

THE  BEING  AND  KIND  OF  BEING 
GOD  IS:     Against  the  dogma  that 
God  was  an  incorporeal,  immaterial, 
passionless  being,  the  Prophet  announced 

22 


THE 

the  splendid  doctrine  of  anthropomorphism 


/-»      j    •       ..i        i  r  -i  i       f       rr.*~ 

—  God  in  the  human  form,  and  possessed  of    TEACHER 
human  qualities,  but  sanctified    and    per- 

fected. In  the  first  great  revelation  which 
opened  this  last  dispensation  our  Prophet 
beheld  Father  and  Son  as  separate  persons, 
distinct  from  each  other  ;  persons  in  the  form 
of  men,  but  more  glorious  and  more  splendid, 
of  course,  than  words  could  describe  them 
to  be.  All  through  the  revelations  received, 
and  all  through  his  discourses,  the  Prophet 
reaffirms  the  old  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures, 
the  doctrine  of  all  the  prophets,  asserting 
that  man  indeed  was  created  in  the  image  of 
God,  and  that  God  possessed  human  quali- 
ties, consciousness,  will,  love,  mercy,  justice  ; 
together  with  power  and  glory  —  in  a  word, 
a  Man  "exalted  and  perfected." 

/CREATION—  THE  LAW  OF  SUB- 
1    j.  STANCE:    In  opposition  to  the  doc- 
^-^  trine  that  God  had  created  the  uni- 
verse of  nothing,  the  Prophet  asserted  the 
doctrine  of  the  eternity  of  substance  and 
energy  and  law,  and  their  infinite  extension 
throughout  all  space;  that  creation  is  but 
the  wisely  wrought  changes   made   in   the 
modes  of  existences,  which  are  themselves 

—  in   their   essence  —  eternal,    the    changes 
constantly  tending  to  higher  developments, 
from  good  to  better,  or  else  ministering  to 
that  end. 


SMSITHH  l^\  F  M4N'S  ORIGIN:  Against  the 
if  doctrine  which  ascribed  a  merely 
earthly  origin  for  man,  body  and 
spirit;  that  taught  that  the  intelligent  en- 
tity in  man — the  mind — was  a  created  thing 
— against  this,  I  say,  our  Prophet  taught 
that  "Intelligence  is  not  created  or  made, 
neither,  indeed,  can  be."  He  taught  that 
the  intelligent  entity  in  man,  which  men 
call  "spirit"  and  sometimes  "soul,"  is  a 
self-existing  entity,  uncreated  and  eternal  as 
God  is,  placed  in  the  way  by  Higher  Intelli- 
gences,— and  guided  by  their  love  and  coun- 
sels,— of  increasing  his  own  intelligence  and 
power  and  glory  and  joy.  Such  he  repre- 
sented man  to  be,  and  once  more  crowned 
him  with  the  dignity  belonging  to  his  Divine 
and  eternal  nature. 

ELECTION  AND  REPROBATION: 
In  regard  to  that  monstrous  doctrine 
that  God,  by  the  exercise  of  His  sov- 
ereign will,  had  predestined  some  men  and 
angels  unto  everlasting  life,  while  others  He 
ordained  to  everlasting  death ;  and  that,  not 
because  of  the  good  or  the  evil  they  had  done 
or  might  do,  but  because  he  had  so  willed 
it  by  his  sovereign  will;  that  "the  number 
of  such  men  and  angels  thus  predestined 
are  so  peculiarly  and  unchangeably  known, 
and  their  number  so  certain  and  definite  that 
24 


it  can  not  be  either  increased  or  diminished"  THE 
— against  this  monstrous  view  of  the  doc-  PROPHET- 
trine  of  salvation  for  the  race  of  men,  our  TEACHER 
Prophet  declared  salvation  to  be  free,  and 
every  soul  of  man  capable  of  participating 
therein,  if  happily  he  should  seek  salvation; 
and  that  man  could  be  assured  of  the  help 
and  grace  of  God  to  aid  him  in  the  attain- 
ment of  salvation.  Commenting  on  a  passage 
of  Scripture  supposed  to  teach  the  sectarian 
doctrine  of  Election  and  Reprobation,  the 
Prophet  said:  "Unconditional  election  of  in- 
dividuals to  eternal  life  was  not  taught  by 
the  Apostles.  God  did  elect,  or  predestinate, 
that  all  those  who  would  be  saved  should  be 
saved  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  through  obedi- 
ence to  the  Gospel" — other  than  this  there 
was  no  predestination  or  election  relating 
to  the  salvation  of  individuals. 

On  the  subject  of  the  fate  of  the  unin- 
structed  heathen,  as  also  upon  the  matter 
of  children  dying  in  infancy,  or  before  arriv- 
ing at  the  years  of  accountability,  the  doc- 
trine of  Joseph  Smith  held  that  where  no 
law  is  given  men  will  be  judged  without 
law,  but  will  stand  within  the  circle  of  the 
mercy  of  God,  and  there  is  hope,  nay,  as- 
surance, of  ultimate  salvation  for  the 
heathen.  "The  heathen  nations  shall  be  re- 
deemed, and  they  that  knew  no  law  shall 
have  part  in  the  first  resurrection;  and  it 


JOSEPH  shaii  be  tolerable  for  them,"  are  the  words 
of  the  Lord  through  the  Prophet. 
And  as  for  infants  dying  in  infancy,  or  be- 
fore arriving  at  years  of  accountability,  the 
Prophet  taught,  the  mercy  of  God  claims 
them  wholly.  They  are  redeemed  from 
the  consequences  of  Adam's  transgression 
by  the  atonement  of  Christ,  and  being 
without  sin  themselves,  the  law  against 
sin  has  no  claim  upon  them,  and  they 
are  saved  to  the  uttermost  without  bap- 
tism or  anything  else  whatsoever,  by  the 
pure  mercy  and  justice  of  God.  "Little 
children  are  alive  in  Christ,  even  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,"  is  a  doctrine  of  the 
Prophet's. 

THE    DOCTRINE    OF    ETERNAL 
PUNISHMENT:    Against  the  dog- 
ma of  the  attainment  of  heaven  or  the 
assignment  to  hell,  involving,  as  it  did,  the 
equality  of  the  glory  in  the  one,  and  equal 
severity  of  punishment  in  the   other,   our 
Prophet  reasserted  the  justice  of  God  in 
providing  a  graded  state  of   existence   for 
men  in  the  future  life,  grades  that  corres- 
pond to  the  state  of  mental,  moral  and  spir- 
itual development  of  every  soul  of  man. 
Upon  this  subject  Joseph  Smith  taught  that 
there  are  many  kingdoms  of  the  Father  in 
which  men  may  live,  each  in  a  sphere  suit- 
able to  his  nature,  disposition  and  the  degree 
26 


of  his  development:  moderns  would  say,  TH 
"Suitable  to  the  state  of  his  evolution."  He 
taught  that  as  there  is  one  glory  of  the  sun, 
another  of  the  moon,  and  another  of  the 
stars,  so  in  future  men  will  exist  in  varying 
degrees  of  glory;  that  as  the  stars  of  heaven 
differ  in  infinite  degrees  of  brightness,  so 
also  will  men  in  the  future  exist  in  places 
and  states  of  infinite  variety,  corresponding 
to  the  infinite  variations  of  their  intelligence, 
knowledge,  tastes,  acquirements,  inclina- 
tions, and  aspirations.  In  other  words,  en- 
vironment will  correspond  to  nature,  with 
always  the  possibility  present  of  improving 
both  the  environment  and  the  nature,  until 
a  fulness  of  joy  is  attained  by  each  intelli- 
gent entity — by  each  man. 

Thus  Joseph  Smith  promulgated  a  sys- 
tem of  positive  doctrine  respecting  the  fu- 
ture of  man  that  is  at  once  in  harmony  with 
the  relative  claims  of  justice  and  mercy; 
with  human  reason  and  divine  law.  He 
made  known  the  fact  that 

"Eternal  punishment  is  God's  punishment." 
"Endless  punishment  is  God's  punishment." 

That  is  to  say,  the  punishment  for  sin — 
which  is  only  another  way  of  saying  the 
"penalty"  for  wrong-doing — takes  the  title 
of  Him  in  whose  name  it  is  administered, 
that  is,  it  is  "God's"  punishment,  or  "Eter- 
nal's" punishment,  "Endless*  punishment." 

27 


JOSEPH  The  punishment  takes  on  it  the  name  of 
SMITH  Him  in  whose  authority  it  is  administered. 
Moreover,  penalty  will  always  follow  viola- 
tion of  the  law,  in  eternity  as  in  what  we  call 
time.  So  long  as  law  exists,  penalties  must 
also  exist.  They  are  the  necessary  concom- 
itants of  law,  without  which  laws  are  mere 
nullities.  But  because  punishments,  so- 
called,  take  on  the  name  of  Him  in  whose 
authority  they  are  administered,  and  because 
law  is  necessarily  paralleled  by  penalty — 
therefore  punishment  will  always  exist  for 
offenders  against  law;  in  other  words  is 
endless — it  does  not  follow  that  each  trans- 
gressor of  the  law  will  suffer  its  penalties 
eternally.  Such  a  conception  is  revolting  to 
reason  and  derogatory  to  the  justice  and 
mercy  of  God.  While  one  must  needs  be- 
lieve that  penalty  follows  violation  of  law, 
the  violator  only  partakes  of  that  penalty  to 
the  extent  that  is  necessary  to  vindicate  the 
law  and  correct  the  transgressor's  own  dis- 
position: whereupon  mercy  has  her  claims, 
that  may  not  be  denied:  and  the  one  time 
violator  of  law,  instructed  by  his  experience 
in  suffering,  goes  forth  to  walk,  let  us  hope, 
in  harmony  with  law,  and  hence  in  peace. 
Thus,  all  down  the  line  of  religious  error, 
as  well  as  in  the  things  here  pointed  out, 
Joseph  Smith  asserted  the  truth  of  God,  and 
maintained  it  before  the  world.  Had  he  done 
no  more  than  this,  if  this  had  been  the 
28 


sole  achievement  in  the  world's  realm 
of  thought  by  our  Prophet—he  would 
stand  in  fair  way  of  being  regarded 
as  the  historical  American  who  had  ex- 
erted the  most  powerful  influence  upon 
the  destinies  of  his  countrymen.  But  instead 
of  this  being  the  end  of  his  achievements  it 
is  merely  the  commencement  of  his  life's 
work ;  a  mere  clearing  of  the  ground  for  the 
new  temple  of  religion  and  philosophy  to  be 
erected;  the  dismissal  of  the  absurdities  of 
old  systems  to  make  way  for  the  incoming 
of  the  new  system  of  thought  which  shall  be 
in  harmony  with  the  new  knowledge  of  a 
new  and  glorious  age — the  incoming  millen- 
nium. 

I  wonder  if  I  may  venture  here  to  draw  in 
outline  the  suggestion  of  that  system?  By 
your  leave,  then :  In  the  beginning  it  is  nec- 
essary to  say  to  you  that  I  shall  use  all  ideas, 
doctrines,  philosophies,  science  principles, 
interpretations  that  I  find  brought  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  world  through  Joseph 
Smith,  directly  or  indirectly.  For  while 
doctrines  here  used  are  found  in  the  Book 
of  Mormon  and  properly  should  be  referred 
to  the  prophets  among  ancient  American 
peoples  for  their  origin,  still  the  world  to- 
day owe  their  knowledge  of  these  things  to 
the  translation  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  by 
Joseph  Smith.  So  also  in  relation  to  the  Book 
of  Moses  and  the  Book  of  Abraham.  So 

29 


JOSEPH  also  as  to  the  revelations  in  the  Doctrine  and 
SMITH  Covenants;  such  philosophy  and  religious 
principles  as  are  there  found  are  given  of 
God,  but  Joseph  Smith  received  and  pub- 
lished them,  and  for  the  purposes  of  what  is 
here  to  be  set  forth  shall  stand  as  his  doc- 
trines and  philosophy,  as  well  also  as  those 
utterances  that  make  up  the  subject-matter 
of  his  discourses. 

VI. 

THE    PROPHET'S    PHILOSOPHICAL 
DOCTRINES. 

THE  PROPHET'S  DEFINITION 
OF  TRUTH:  Undoubtedly  the 
quest  of  philosophy  is  Truth.  And 
again,  undoubtedly,  Philosophy  would  be 
greatly  helped  in  its  search  for  Truth  if  it 
had  but  a  clear  conception  of  what  it  was 
trying  to  find;  hence  the  importance  of  a 
clear  and  accurate  definition  of  Truth.  It  is 
at  this  point,  however,  that  the  greatest  dif- 
ficulty arises  for  the  human  intellect.  It  is 
quite  generally  conceded  that  up  to  the  early 
decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  no  satis- 
factory definition  of  Truth  had  been  found. 
When  Jesus  stood  bound  before  Pilate's 
judgment  seat,  and  testified  that  He  was 
born  to  bear  witness  of  the  Truth,  Pilate — 
whether  in  mockery  or  in  earnest  curiosity 
we  may  not  now  know — asked  the  question : 
30 


"What  is  truth?"  But  the  Divine  Man  made  THE 
no  answer.     Most  commentators  say  that,  PROPHET- 
without  waiting  for  an  answer  the  Roman  TEACHER 
procurator  departed  from  the  judgment  hall 
to  speak  to  the  Jews  clamoring  on  the  out- 
side ;  and  all  regret  the  opportunity  that  was 
there  lost  of  receiving  a  divine  answer  to  the 
question.    One  set  of  commentators,  refer- 
ring to  Pilate's  question,  say  to  him :  "Thou 
stirrest  the  question  of  questions,  which  the 
thoughtful  of  every  age  have  asked,  but 
never  man  yet  answered." 

A  secular  writer  presents  the  same  incident 
as  follows:  "  'What  is  truth?'  was  the  pas- 
sionate demand  of  a  Roman  procurator,  on 
one  of  the  most  momentous  occasions  in  his- 
tory. And  the  Divine  Person  who  stood  be- 
fore him,  to  whom  the  interrogation  was  ad- 
dressed, made  no  reply — unless,  indeed,  si- 
lence contained  the  reply.  Often  and  vain- 
ly had  that  demand  been  made  before — 
often  and  vainly  has  it  been  made  since.  No 
one  has  yet  given  a  satisfactory  answer." 

Then,  by  way  of  historical  illustration  of 
this  assertion,  our  author  remarks  the  fol- 
f  ollowing : 

"When,  at  the  dawn  of  science  in 
Greece,  the  ancient  religion  was  disappear- 
ing like  a  mist  at  sunrise,  the  pious  and 
thoughtful  men  of  that  country  were  thrown 
into  a  condition  of  intellectual  despair.  Anax- 
agoras  plaintively  exclaims,  'Nothing  can  be 

31 


[  known,  nothing  can  be  learned,  nothing  can 
be  certain,  sense  is  limited,  intellect  is  weak, 
life  is  short.'  Xenophanes  tells  us  that  it  is 
impossible  for  us  to  be  certain  even  when 
we  utter  the  Truth.  Parmenides  declares 
that  the  very  constitution  of  man  prevents 
him  from  ascertaining  absolute  Truth.  Em- 
pedocles  affirms  that  all  philosophical  and 
religious  systems  must  be  unreliable,  be- 
cause we  have  no  criterion  by  which  to 
test  them.  Democritus  asserts  that  even 
things  that  are  true  cannot  impart  certainty 
to  us ;  that  the  final  result  of  human  inquiry 
is  the  discovery  that  man  is  incapable  of  ab- 
solute knowledge ;  that,  even  if  the  truth  be 
in  his  possession,  he  cannot  be  certain  of  it. 
Pyrrho  bids  us  reflect  on  the  necessity  ot 
suspending  our  judgment  of  things,  since  we 
have  no  criterion  of  truth ;  so  deep  a  distrust 
did  he  impart  to  his  followers  that  they  were 
in  the  habit  of  saying,  'We  assert  nothing; 
not  even  that  we  assert  nothing.'  Epicurus 
taught  his  disciples  that  truth  can  never  be 
determined  by  reason.  Arcesilaus,  denying 
both  intellectual  and  sensuous  knowledge, 
publicly  avowed  that  he  knew  nothing,  not 
even  his  own  ignorance !  The  general  con- 
clusion to  which  Greek  philosophy  came  was 
this:  that,  in  view  of  the  contradiction  of 
the  evidence  of  the  senses,  we  cannot  dis- 
tinguish the  true  from  the  false ;  and  such  is 
the  imperfection  of  reason,  that  we  cannot 
32 


affirm  the  correctness  of  any  philosophical  THE 
deduction."  PROPHET- 

I  make  these  quotations  to  show  that  no  TEACHER 
satisfactory  definition  of  Truth,  either  in 
ancient  or  modern  times,  either  in  religion 
or  philosophy,  has  been  given,  and  also  to 
call  attention  to  the  fact  that  if  Joseph  Smith 
has  given  a  definition  of  Truth  that  appeals 
with  irresistible  force  to  the  understanding 
of  men,  it  must  be  a  strongly  original  utter- 
ance ;  a  revelation  of  the  utmost  importance. 
Such  a  definition,  I  believe,  he  has  given.  In 
1833  he  said: 

"Truth  is  knowledge  of  things  as  they  are, 
and  as  they  were,  and  as  they  are  to  come." 

This  I  hold  to  be  the  completest  definition 
of  Truth  found  in  human  literature.  It  deals 
with  relative  truth,  absolute  truth,  and  truth 
unfolding  or  becoming. 

It  may  be  objected  that  this  definition  is 
defective  in  that  it  appears  to  make  Truth 
depend  upon  knowledge.  "Truth,"  says  the 
definition,  "is  knowledge  of  things  as  they 
are,"  etc.  This  part  of  the  definition  deals 
with  relative  Truth  merely.  "Truth  as  it 
appears  to  us,"  says  S.  Baring-Gould,  "can 
only  be  relative,  because  we  are  relative  cre- 
atures, have  only  a  relative  perception  and 
judgment.  We  appreciate  that  which  is  true 
to  ourselves,  not  that  which  is  universally 
true." 

In  other  words,  and  using  the  language  of 

33 


JOSEPH  Herbert  Spencer  at  this  point:  "Debarred 
as  we  are  from  everything  beyond  the  rel- 
ative, Truth,  raised  to  its  highest  form,  can 
be  for  us  nothing  more  than  perfect  agree- 
ment throughout  the  whole  range  of  our  ex- 
perience, between  those  representations  of 
things  which  we  distinguish  as  ideal  and 
those  presentations  of  things  which  we  dis- 
tinguish as  real."  That  is  to  say,  to  each  in- 
dividual, "knowledge  of  things  as  they  are 
and  as  they  were"  will  be  to  him  the  Truth, 
and  the  fullness  thereof,  though  not  neces- 
sarily all  the  Truth  there  is.  There  is  Truth, 
however,  which  does  not  depend  upon 
knowledge;  existences  beyond  and  inde- 
pendent of  any  human  knowledge,  at  least. 
To  illustrate:  America  existed,  though  all 
Europe  was  without  knowledge  of  it  for 
ages ;  until,  in  fact,  it  was  discovered  by  Co- 
lumbus. The  power  of  steam  always  existed, 
but  men  did  not  know  it  until  modern  times. 
So,  also,  with  the  mysterious  force  called 
electricity,  it  always  existed,  but  not  until 
recent  years  did  man  know  it  as  a  force  that 
could  be  utilized;  and  so  as  to  many  other 
forces  and  truths  in  God's  universe  that  are 
now  existing,  and  have  always  existed,  but 
man,  as  yet,  has  no  knowledge  of  them. 
The  storehouse  of  Truth  is  not  yet  exhaust- 
ed by  man's  discoveries.  There  are  more 
Truths  in  heaven  and  earth  than  are  yet 
dreamed  of  in  human  philosophies. 

34 


And  yet  it  may  be  that  running  parallel  THE 
with  those  existences,  substances  and  rela-  PROPHET- 
tions  unknown  to  man,  there  exist  intelli-  TEACHER 
gences  that  cognize  such  existences  and  re- 
lations. To  recur  to  one  item  in  the  illus- 
trations above:  America  existed  though  all 
Europe  was  without  knowledge  of  it  until 
discovered  by  Columbus;  but  America  had 
inhabitants,  intelligences  of  her  own  that 
knew  of  the  existence  of  these  Western  con- 
tinents. And  so  it  may  be  if  one  could  be 
transported  to  Mars;  while  there  is  much 
that  we  do  not  know  about  Mars — has  it  an 
atmosphere  and  oceans?  Has  it  great  con- 
tinents and  mountain  ranges?  Is  it  inhab- 
ited? If  so,  what  is  the  status  of  its  civiliza- 
tion? These  all  may  be  existences,  realities 
on  Mars,  but  we  do  not  know  of  them,  but 
there  may  be  intelligent  inhabitants  on  Mars 
who  know  all  these  things  and  a  thousand 
more  that  are  unknown  to  us,  yet  known  to 
intelligences  inhabiting  Mars.  And  so  as 
to  the  most  distant  planets  and  planet-sys- 
tems conceivable.  Everywhere  that  things 
exist,  they  may  be  paralleled  by  Intelligences 
that  cognize  them.  Then,  again,  there  are 
varying  degrees  of  Intelligences.  Where 
two  Intelligences  exist  and  one  is  more  in- 
telligent than  another,  it  leads  to  the  thought 
that  there  may  be  a  third  more  intelligent 
than  the  first  two ;  thence  to  a  fourth  or  fifth 
more  intelligent  still;  thence  onward,  rising 

35 


JOSEPH  one  above  another,  in  superiority  of  intel- 
SMITH  Hgence  until  you  stand  in  the  presence  of  an 
infinity  of  Intelligences,  or  reach  One  more 
intelligent  than  them  all !  One  who,  direct- 
ly or  indirectly,  in  all  councils  presides ;  who 
guides  all  movements;  who  directs  all  un- 
dertakings; who  controls  all  worlds  and 
world-systems ;  who  loves  all ;  who  comprer 
hends  all  things,  even  the  sum  of  existences 
— the  Truth !  And  so  in  the  last  analysis  of 
the  matter,  wheresoever  there  are  existences 
to  be  known,  even  though  they  stretch  to 
infinity,  there  are  also  Intelligences  that  par- 
allel such  existences  to  cognize  them,  con- 
trol them,  dominate  them,  and  through  them 
work  out  Their  will. 

The  phrase  above — "the  sum  of  exist- 
ence:" we  have  more  to  do  with  that.  The 
phrase  is  used  by  a  most  faithful  and  earn- 
est Christian  man,  the  late  John  Jacques. 
Instructed  by  the  Prophet  Joseph  Smith, 
he  sang  in  his  hymn  on  Truth,  the  following : 

Then  say,  what  is  Truth?    'Tis  the  last  and 

the  first, 

For  the  limits  of  time  it  steps  o'er; 
Though  the  heavens  depart  and  the  earth's 

fountains  burst, 
Truth,  the  sum  of  existence,  will  weather  the 

worst, 

Eternal,  unchanged,  evermore. 
Surely  that  which  is,  that  which  has  been, 
and  that  which  is  to  come,  must  be  the  sum 
36 


of  existence,  or  absolute  Truth ;  and  all  that  THE 
is,  or  has  been,  or  shall  be,  has  been,  is  and  PROPHET- 
shall  be  known  by  the  everywhere  existing  TEACHER 
Intelligences,  who,  with  the  rest  of  their 
knowledge,  know  themselves;  who  possess 
self-consciousness,  as  well  as  other-con- 
sciousness, that  is,  consciousness  of  other 
things  than  themselves.  Truth,  indeed, 
from  this  view  point,  is  knowledge  of 
that  which  is,  including  self-knowledge  of 
the  knower.  It  may  be  said  that  the  abso- 
lute Truth,  even  as  here  set  forth,  is  be- 
yond the  grasp  of  the  finite  mind.  I  shall 
concede  the  claim;  but  because  finite  mind 
cannot  comprehend  the  sum  of  existence,  or 
absolute  Truth,  it  does  not  follow  that  the 
definition  we  are  discussing  is  at  fault,  or 
that  it  can  be  displaced  by  one  meaning 
more  or  less.  Reflection  upon  the  definition 
here  presented  will  develop  the  fact  that  it 
contains  a  self-evident  proposition  of  the 
same  nature  as  the  statement,  "duration  is 
eternal" — without  beginning,  without  end. 
Or,  "space  is  limitless" — it  has  no  point  be- 
yond which  it  may  not  be  conceived  to  ex- 
tend, and  beyond  which  it  does  not  extend. 
It  is  vain  to  say  that  the  finite  mind  cannot 
comprehend  the  realities  presented  by  these 
statements.  The  thing  is  greater  than  any 
symbol  we  can  fashion  of  it  by  word  or  oth- 
erwise; but  we  cannot  conceive  the  op- 
posite of  these  statements,  i.  e.,  that  space 

37 


;PHhas  boundaries;  that  duration  has  limits; 
that  absolute  Truth  is  less  than  the  sum  of 
existence.  In  the  definition  herein  set  forth 
you  have  all  that  is ;  and  if  in  any  definition 
of  Truth  there  is  failure  to  include  the  sum 
of  existences  by  so  much  would  the  defini- 
tion be  defective  and  fail  of  its  aim  to  define 
Truth.  As  to  relative  Truth — every  indi- 
vidual man's  Truth — that  is  each  individual 
man's  knowledge  of  so  much  of  the  sum  of 
existences  as  he  can  make  his  own,  as  al- 
ready pointed  out. 

One  other  reflection  on  this  definition. 
Note  the  words  in  it :  "Knowledge  of  things 
*  *  *  as  they  are  to  come."  This  pre- 
sents a  view  of  Truth  seldom  if  ever  met 
with.  It  gives  the  idea  of  movement.  Truth 
is  not  a  stagnant  pool,  but  a  living  fountain ; 
not  a  Dead  Sea  without  tides  or  currents; 
on  the  contrary  it  is  an  ocean,  immeasur- 
ably great,  vast,  co-extensive  with  the  Uni- 
verse— it  is  the  Universe — bright-heaving, 
boundless,  endless  and  sublime !  Moving  in 
majestic  currents,  uplifted  by  tides  in  cease- 
less ebb  and  flow;  variant  but  orderly;  tak- 
ing on  new  forms  from  ever-changing  com- 
binations; new  adjustments;  new  relations 
— multiplying  itself  in  ten  thousand  times 
ten  thousand  ways ;  ever  reflecting  the  intel- 
ligence of  the  Infinite;  and  declaring  alike 
in  its  whispers  and  in  its  thunders,  the  hived 
wisdom  of  the  ages — of  God! 
38 


A 5  TO  THINGS— EXISTENCES:  We  THE 
are  next  to  consider  the  universe  in  PRO1 
which  men,   angels,   archangels  and 
Gods — Intelligences  all — live. 

"There  are  many  kingdoms  *  *  *  and 
there  is  no  space  in  the  which  there  is  no 
kingdom;  and  there  is  no  kingdom  in  the 
which  there  is  no  space." 

This  was  said  by  Joseph  Smith  in  1832. 
The  context  of  the  passage  makes  it  clear 
that  "kingdoms"  here  are  not  groups  of  men 
or  nations  over  which  a  monarch  reigns; 
but  substance,  matter,  worlds  and  systems 
of  worlds,  under  the  dominion  of  law,  and 
Intelligences.  It  is  the  doctrine  of  the  eter- 
nal and  everywhere  existence  of  matter  and 
space.  It  is  a  description  of  the  universe  as 
far  as  it  is  describable.  But  let  us  think  of 
the  passage  a  moment;  for  it  requires 
thought  to  rightly  apprehend  it. 

This  "space" — what  is  meant  by  it?  I  ask 
you  what  is  between  the  two  walls  of  this 
hall,  and  you  would  rightly  answer  space,, 
extension.  But  what  is  on  the  outside  of 
each  wall — space ;  neither  wall  is  the  end  of 
space,  then.  Let  us  look  higher.  What  is 
between  us  and  the  sun?  Space — extension. 
How  much  of  it?  Our  astronomers  say  92,- 
000,000  miles.  What  is  on  the  other  side  of 
the  sun  in  a  direct  line  from  us?  Space. 
How  much,  92,000,000  miles?  Yes,  and  if 
92,000,000  miles  were  multiplied  by  92,000,- 

39 


00°  the  Pro^uct  w°uld  not  indicate  all  the 
space  in  a  direct  line  from  us  on  the  oppos- 
ite side  of  the  sun.  Beyond  the  point  so 
obtained  space  would  still  extend.  But  one 
wearies  of  these  units  of  measure ;  take  a  ray 
of  light.  In  the  single  batting  of  a  bird's 
wing  light  will  pass  eight  times  round  the 
earth,  that  is  it  will  pass  over  a  distance  of 
198,000  miles!  There  are  fixed  stars— suns 
— so  distant  from  us,  the  astronomers  say, 
that  it  requires  hundreds  of  thousands  and 
even  millions  of  years  for  a  ray  of  light  to 
reach  us  from  those  distant  suns !  Take  one 
of  those  distant  suns  and  think  upon  it  in  re- 
spect of  space,  just  as  we  did  a  moment  ago 
in  regard  to  what  is  between  our  earth  and 
the  sun  and  beyond  the  sun,  in  a  direct  line 
from  us,  and  you  get  the  same  results.  There 
is  no  means  by  which  the  limitless  may  be 
measured.  Whatever  the  length  of  your 
measuring  wand  it  is  still  inadequate.  By 
no  measurement,  by  no  conception,  may 
one  reach  the  "outside  curtains"  beyond 
which  space  does  not  extend.  And  so  as  to 
time,  duration.  What  was  before  today? 
Yesterday.  And  what  will  be  after  today? 
Tomorrow.  Take  a  century,  or,  better  yet, 
a  millennium,  a  period  of  1,000  years — why 
not  take  1,000,000  years  as  a  period  with 
which  to  measure  duration?  It  will  answer 
just  as  well  as  our  "day"  of  a  moment  ago. 
What  preceded  our  present  period  of  1,000,- 
40 


000  years?  A  previous  1,000,000  of  such  THE 
years.  And  what  will  follow  the  present  ] 
period  of  1,000,000  years?  Another  such 
period.  So  you  may  continue,  make  your 
period  of  measurement  what  length  of  years 
or  centuries  or  millenniums  you  please,  the 
result  will  always  be  the  same.  It  is  again 
the  attempt  to  measure  the  limitless,  to  en- 
compass that  which  is  infinite.  The  sum  of 
all  our  thought  on  this  head  is  well  stated  by 
Ernest  Haeckel  in  one  of  his  latest  works, 
the  very  last  but  one,  I  believe,  the  publica- 
tion of  which  falls  within  the  present  de- 
cade: 

a.  "The  extent  of  the  universe  is  infinite 
and  unbounded;  it  is  empty  in  no  part,  but 
everywhere  filled  with  substance. 

b.  "The  duration  of  the  world  is  equally 
infinite  and  unbounded ;  it  has  no  beginning 
and  no  end ;  it  is  eternity." 

Such  may  be  said  to  be  the  settled  and  uni- 
versal conviction  of  science  now ;  but  it  was 
far  from  such  conviction  in  1832  when 
Joseph  Smith  said  the  same  in  the  passage — 
"There  are  many  kingdoms;  *  *  *  and 
there  is  no  space  in  the  which  there  is  no 
kingdom;  and  there  is  no  kingdom  in  the 
which  there  is  no  space." 


JOSEPH  rr-%  HE  REIGN  OF  LAW:    "There  are 
many  kingdoms     *     *     *    and  to  ev- 

-•-  ery  kingdom  is  given  a  law;  and  to 
every  law  there  are  certain  bounds  also,  and 
conditions.  All  beings  who  abide  not  in 
those  conditions  (i.  e.,  abide  within  the  law) 
are  not  justified." 

This  was  said  in  1832.  The  passage  pro- 
claims the  reign  of  law  throughout  this  in- 
finite universe — through  all  space,  through 
all  time;  in  all  kingdoms;  but  implies  the 
possibility  of  departure  from  law.  But  "to 
every  law  there  are  certain  bounds  also  and 
conditions!"  A  bold  conception  this;  espe- 
cially three-quarters  of  a  century  ago ;  yet  it 
is  approved  by  man's  experience.  TKe 
power  of  ocean  currents  and  the  winds  to 
carry  with  them  objects  in  the  direction  of 
their  movement  is  overcome  by  another 
force  or  law — the  power  of  steam ;  the  force 
of  gravitation,  by  the  levitating  power  of  gas ; 
the  natural  tendency  of  water  to  seek  its 
level,  by  the  levitating  power  of  heat  and 
the  absorbing  power  of  the  atmosphere,  are 
hurriedly  chosen  examples.  But  this  same 
idea  of  law  itself  having  metes  and  bounds, 
or  "law  itself  being  subject  to  law,"  Henry 
Drummond,  one  of  the  recognized  great 
thinkers  of  the  nineteenth  century,  more 
than  half  a  century  after  our  Prophet,  de- 
clared to  be  "One  of  the  most  striking  gen- 
eralizations of  recent  science."  And  John 
42 


Fiske  said,  "In  order  to  be  always  sure  that  ^ 
we  are  generalizing  correctly,  we  must 
make  the  generalizing  process  itself  a  sub- 
ject of  generalization."  Which  is  but  a  rec- 
ognition of  Drummond's  idea  that  "laws 
have  their  law;"  and  Joseph  Smith's  "To 
every  law  there  are  certain  bounds  also  and 
conditions."  Already  I  have  noted  in  the 
passage  the  implied  possibility  of  the  infrac- 
tion of  law ;  and  the  idea  of  law  itself  implies 
the  possibility  of  disorder,  which  must  re- 
sult from  an  infraction,  that  is,  a  departure 
from,  or  violation  of,  law.  But  our  Prophet 
said:  "That  which  is  governed  by  law  is 
also  preserved  by  law,  and  perfected  and 
sanctified  by  the  same.  That  which  break- 
eth  a  law,  and  abideth  not  by  law,  but  seek- 
eth  to  become  a  law  unto  itself,  and  willeth 
to  abide  in  sin,  and  altogether  abideth  in 
sin,  cannot  be  sanctified  by  law,  neither  by 
mercy,  justice,  nor  judgment."  From  sall 
which  one  is  to  conclude  that  evil  is  subject 
to  law  as  well  as  good,  that  is,  it  cannot  re- 
main evil  and  yet  produce  the  effects  of 
good.  Our  Prophet  teaches,  then,  that 
through  all  eternity  the  infinite  universe  has 
been,  and  is,  and  will  be,  subject  to  law ;  but 
that  "to  every  law  there  are  certain  bounds 
also  and  conditions." 


43 


JOSEPH  ^>,  HANGE  AND  ITS  TENDENCY: 
As  to  movement  and  change  in  this 

^-^  infinite  universe,  our  Prophet  repre- 
sents God  as  saying: 

"Worlds  without  number  have  I  created. 
*  *  *  Behold,  there  are  many  worlds 
that  have  passed  away  by  the  word  of  my 
power,  and  there  are  many  that  now  stand, 
and  innumerable  are  they  to  man.  *  *  * 
The  heavens,  they  are  many,  and  they  can- 
not be  numbered  unto  man ;  *  *  *  and 
as  one  earth  shall  pass  away,  and  the  heav- 
ens thereof,  even  so  shall  another  come,  and 
there  is  no  end  to  my  works,  neither  to  my 
words." 

This  passage  implies  constant  movement 
in  this  infinite  universe.  The  statement, 
"As  one  earth  shall  pass  away  and  the  heav- 
ens thereof,  even  so  shall  another  come," 
corresponds  somewhat  to  the  modern  sci- 
entist's notion  of  "evolution  and  devolu- 
tion." Also  with  his  statement  that  "Sub- 
stance is  everywhere  and  always  in  uninter- 
rupted movement  and  transformation;  no- 
where is  there  perfect  repose  and  rigidity; 
yet  the  infinite  quantity  of  matter  and  of 
eternally  changing  force  remains  constant." 
And  now  I  must  ask  you  to  accept  a  some- 
what hurriedly  stated  conclusion  as  to  the 
effect  of  these  changes  going  on  in  the  uni- 
verse, gathered,  indeed,  from  the  teaching 
of  our  Prophet,  but  without  specific  quota- 

44 


tion,  namely,  that  the  tendency  of  this  move-  THE 
ment  in  the  universe,  the  organization  and   PROPHET- 
then  the  disintegration  of  worlds  and  world-   TEACHER 
systems  is  in  the  direction  of  the  develop- 
ment of,  and  for  the  increase  of  the  power 
and  glory  of  truly  immortal  Intelligences. 
This  conclusion  is  required  by  the  philos- 
ophy of  Joseph  Smith. 

THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOOD  AND 
EVIL:     Respecting  Good  and  Evil, 
our  Prophet  taught:     "There  must 
needs  be  an  opposition  in  all  things.     If  it 
were  not  so,  righteousness  could    not    be 
brought  to  pass;  nor  wickedness,  nor  holi- 
ness, nor  misery;   neither  good  nor  bad, 
therefore,  all  things  must  needs  be  [in  the 
absence  of  these  opposite  existences]  a  com- 
pound in  one." 

It  will  require  but  little  reflection  to  es- 
tablish the  truth  of  this  doctrine.  Good  im- 
plies its  opposite,  evil.  Law,  which  carries 
with  it  the  idea  of  order,  implies  disorder, 
and  takes  measures  against  it.  We  become 
conscious  of  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  here 
announced  at  every  turn.  In  the  astron- 
omic order  it  is  seen  in  the  centripetal  and 
centrifugal  forces — the  holding  together 
and  the  flying  apart  forces.  In  chemistry  it 
is  manifest  in  the  composing  and  decom- 
posing forces ;  in  positive  and  negative  elec- 
tricity. It  is  seen  in  light  and  darkness; 

45 


JOSEPH  heat,  cold;  movement,  repose;  joy,  sorrow; 

SMITH  pleasure,  pain ;  and  so  following.  Our  Proph- 
et's teaching  on  this  line  runs  to  the  extent 
that  existence  itself  is  made  to  depend  up- 
on it,  this  antinomy  of  things.  Listen : 

"And  if  ye  shall  say  there  is  no  law,  ye  shall 
also  say  there  is  no  sin.  If  ye  shall  say 
there  is  no  sin,  ye  shall  also  say  there  is  no 
righteousness.  And  if  there  is  no  righteous- 
ness there  is  no  happiness.  And  if  there  is 
no  righteousness  nor  happiness,  there  is  no 
punishment  nor  misery.  And  if  these  things 
are  not,  there  is  no  God.  And  if  there  is  no 
God,  we  are  not,  neither  the  earth ;  for  there 
could  have  been  no  creation  of  things; 
neither  to  act,  nor  to  be  acted  upon." 

Have  you  ever  thought  what  a  dreadful 
world  this  would  be  without  this  duality — 
the  opposite  existences  here  contended  for? 
Imagine  all  things  in  the  world  to  be  white ! 
No  contrasts  in  coloring !  Universal  insanity 
must  result.  The  "dread  of  sinking  into 
naught"  is  matched  by  the  dread  of  having 
things  resolved  into  a  "compound  of  one." 
The  absence  of  this  necessary  "opposition  in 
all  things"  is  well  put,  by  a  very  recent  phil- 
osophical writer,  in  these  terms : 

"Evil  exists  in  the  balance   of  natural 
forces.     *     *     *     It  is  also  the  background 
of  good,  the  incentive  to  good,  and  the  trial 
46 


of  good,  without  which  good  could  not  be.  THE 
As  the  virtue  of  courage  could  not  exist  PROPHET- 
without  the  evil  of  danger,  and  as  the  virtue  TEACHER 
of  sympathy  could  not  exist  without  the 
evil  of  suffering,  so  no  other  virtue  could 
exist  without  its  corresponding  evil.  In  a 
world  without  evil — if  such  a  world  be  re- 
ally conceivable,  all  men  would  have  per- 
fect health,  perfect  intelligence,  and  perfect 
morals.  No  one  could  gain  or  impart  infor- 
mation, each  one's  cup  of  knowledge  being 
full.  The  temperature  would  stand  forever 
at  70  degrees,  both  heat  and  cold  [in  excess] 
being  evil.  There  could  be  no  progress, 
since  progress  is  the  overcoming  of  evil.  A 
world  without  evil  would  be  as  toil  without 
exertion,  as  light  without  darkness,  as  a  bat- 
tle with  no  antagonist.  It  would  be  a  world 
without  meaning." 

The  German  philosopher  Kant  put  the  same 
thought  in  beautiful  form  when  he  said,  in 
substance :  The  dove,  as  she  speeds  her  way 
through  the  air,  may  marvel  at  the  resist- 
ance to  her  flight  by  the  atmosphere,  but  we 
know  that  but  for  that  resistance  she  could 
not  fly  at  all.  So  far  Kant.  Applied,  the 
conclusion  would  be:  As  the  resistance  of 
the  air  to  the  flight  of  the  dove,  so  is  evil  to 
the  progress  of  Intelligences. 

[In  the  December  number,  1908,  of  the 
"Cosmopolitan  Magazine,"  I  find  the  fol- 
lowing reflections,  by  Mr.  Ambrose  Bierce, 

47 


JOSEPH  on  the  point  here  discussed;  and  while  not 
SMITH   accepting,     without     modification,     every 
thought  expressed,  I  consider  the  passage 
too  pertinent,  and  too  rich  to  be  denied  ad- 
mittance into  these  pages : 

"Let  us  for  a  moment  suppose  this  country's 
reformers  to  have  achieved  their  amiable  pur- 
pose— their  purposes,  rather,  for  these  are  as 
the  leaves  of  the  forest,  and  no  two  alike.  We 
have,  then,  a  country  in  which  are  no  poverty, 
no  contention,  no  tyranny  nor  oppression, 
no  peril  to  life  or  limb,  no  disease — and  so 
forth.  How  delightful!  What  a  good  and 
happy  people!  Alas,  no!  With  poverty 
have  vanished  benevolence,  providence,  and 
the  foresight  which,  born  of  the  fear  of  in- 
dividual want,  stands  guard  at  a  thousand 
gates  to  defend  the  general  good.  The 
charitable  impulse  is  dead  in  every  breast, 
and  gratitude,  atrophied  by  disuse,  has  no 
longer  a  place  among  human  sentiments  and 
emotions.  With  no  more  fighting  among 
ourselves  we  have  lost  the  power  of  resent- 
ment and  resistance :  a  car-load  of  Mexicans 
or  a  shipful  of  Japanese  can  invade  our  fool's 
paradise  and  enslave  us,  as  the  Spaniards 
overran  Peru  and  the  British  subdued  India. 
(Hailers  of  "the  dawn  of  the  new  era"  will,  I 
trust,  provide  that  it  dawns  everywhere  at 
once  or  here  last  of  all.)  Having  no  oppres- 
sion to  resist  and  no  perils  to  apprehend,  we 
no  longer  need  the  courage  to  defy,  nor  the 
48 


fortitude  to  endure.  Heroism  is  a  failing  THJLWFT 
memory  and  magnanimity  a  dream  of  the  ™^ 
past;  for  not  only  are  the  virtues  known  by 
contrast  with  the  vices,  they  spring  from 
the  same  seed,  grow  in  the  same  soil,  ripen 
in  the  same  sunshine,  and  perish  in  the  same 
frost.  A  fine  race  of  mollycoddles  we  should 
be  without  our  sins  and  sufferings!  In  a 
world  without  evils  there  would  be  one  su- 
preme evil — existence.  We  need  not  fear 
any  such  condition.  Progress  is  infected 
with  the  germs  of  reversion;  on  the  grave 
of  the  civilization  of  today  will  squat  the 
barbarian  of  tomorrow,  "with  a  glory  in  his 
bosom"  that  will  transfigure  him  the  day 
after.  The  alternation  is  one  that  we  can 
neither  hasten  nor  retard,  for  our  success 
baffles  us.  If,  for  example,  we  could  abolish 
war,  disease,  and  famine,  the  race  would 
multiply  to  the  point  of  "standing  room 
only" — a  condition  prophesying  war,  dis- 
ease, and  famine.  Wherefore  the  wisest 
prayer  is  this,  "O  Lord,  make  thy  servant 
strong  to  fight  and  impotent  to  prevail."] 
"Moral  evil,"  then,  is  not  a  created  thing. 
It  is  one  of  the  eternal  existences,  just  as 
duration  is  and  space.  It  is  as  old  as  law — 
old  as  Truth,  old  as  this  eternal  universe. 
Intelligences  must  adjust  themselves  to 
these  eternal  existences;  this,  the  measure  of 
their  duty. 

49 


JOSEPH  /TpHE  INTELLIGENT  ENTITY:    Of 
man's  spirit,  called    often    by    other 
names— "mind,"  "intelligence,"  "ego," 
"self;"  but  by  whatever  name  it  is  called,  and 
all  nice  distinctions  set  aside,  here  I  mean 
that     conscious,     self-determining     entity, 
which  thinks,  reasons,  wills,  loves,  aspires — 
I  mean  the  real  man.     Let  us  in  our  dis- 
course call  him  spirit.    Of  man,  then,  thus 
understood,  our  Prophet  taught: 

"The  soul — the  mind  of  man — the  immortal 
spirit — where  did  it  come  from?  All  learned 
men  and  doctors  of  divinity  say  that  God 
created  it  in  the  beginning ;  but  it  is  not  so ; 
the  very  idea  lessens  man  in  my  estimation. 
I  do  not  believe  the  doctrine.  I  know  bet- 
ter. *  *  *  We  say  that  God  himself  is 
a  self-existent  Being.  Who  told  you  so  ?  It 
is  correct  enough,  but  how  did  it  get  into 
your  heads?  Who  told  you  that  man  did 
not  exist  in  like  manner,  upon  the  same 
principles?  *  *  *  Is  it  logical  to  say 
that  the  intelligence  of  spirits  is  immortal, 
and  yet  that  it  had  a  beginning?  The  intel- 
ligence of  spirits  had  no  beginning,  neither 
will  it  have  an  end.  *  *  *  There  never 
was  a  time  when  there  were  not  spirits;  for 
they  are  co-eternal  with  our  Father  in 
heaven.  *  *  *  The  spirit  of  man  is  not 
a  created  being;  it  existed  from  eternity, 
and  will  exist  to  eternity." 
50 


Man,  then,  in  the  Prophet's  philosophy,  is   THE 
not  a  created,  but  a  self-existent  entity,  one  PROPHET- 
of  the  eternal  things;  not  created,  really  un-  TEACHER 
creatable,  as  also  indestructible.       Not  of 
earth  origin,  but  existing  in  heavens  with- 
out number,  brother  to  all  Intelligences — 
brother  to  the  Christ  with  the  rest.    "I  was 
in  the    beginning    with    the    Father,"  our 
Prophet  represents  the  Christ  as  saying — "I 
was  in  the  beginning  with  the  Father.     * 

*  *     Ye  [the  brethren  present  when  the 
revelation  was  given]  were  also  in  the  be- 
ginning with  the  Father,  that  which  is  spirit. 

*  *     *     Man  [the  race]  was  also  in  the  be- 
ginning with  God.     Intelligence  was  not 
created  or  made,  neither  indeed  can  be." 

But  while  these  spirits  or  intelligent  en- 
tities may  be  equal  as  to  their  eternity,  they 
differ  in  the  degree  of  intelligence — so  our 
Prophet  teaches:  Where  two  things  exist, 
one  higher  than  another,  there  may  be  an- 
other thing  higher  yet.  Where  two  things 
exist,  one  superior  to  another,  there  may  be 
another  still  superior,  and  so  on.  So  where 
two  spirits  exist,  one  being  more  intelligent 
than  the  other,  there  may  be  another  more 
intelligent  than  the  first.  Yet,  notwith- 
standing this  difference  in  degree  of  intelli- 
gence, they  are  equal  as  to  their  eternity. 
"They  existed  before,"  said  our  Prophet, 
"they  shall  have  no  end;  they  shall  exist 
after,  for  they  are  gnolaum,  or  eternal." 

51 


JOSEPH  It  is  this  difference  in  Intelligences  that 
SMITH  leads  to  order  in  this  universe  of  ours. 
The  more  advanced  Intelligences  govern- 
ing, controlling,  devising,  organizing,  form- 
ing societies,  making  governments — all 
which  shall  tend  to  increase  the  glory  and 
power  and  joy  of  Intelligences;  to  this  end 
bringing  into  existence  what  we  call  worlds, 
world-systems,  guiding  them  through  im- 
mense cycles  of  time,  and  through  processes 
that  lead  from  chaos  to  cosmos,  from  teles- 
tial  to  celestial,  and  when  attaining  a  point 
beyond  which  they  may  not  be  exalted  in 
their  present  forms,  breaking  those  forms, 
disintegrating  them,  throwing  them  back — 
these  baser  material  things,  not  Intelligences 
— back  to  chaos,  to  be  brought  forth  again 
to  reach  a  grander  cosmos — worlds  without 
number  have  thus  passed  away,  by  the  word 
of  God's  power,  and  many  now  stand,  innu- 
merable unto  man ;  and  as  one  earth  and  its 
heavens  shall  pass  away,  so  shall  another 
come,  and  there  is  no  end  to  these  works, 
this  evolution  and  this  devolution.  And  so 
the  eternal  drama  proceeds.  Intelligences 
meanwhile  standing  unhurt  amidst  this  or- 
ganization and  disorganization  of  worlds; 
these  integrating  and  disintegrating  ele- 
ments, this  movement  from  lower  to  higher 
forms,  from  little  to  greater  excellences ;  yet 
this  without  attaining  to  "highest"  or  "per- 
fect," because  advancing  in  the  infinite, 
52 


which  knows  no  ultimates.  Meanwhile  In- 
telligences,  amid  these  changes,  under  the 
law  of  eternal  progress,  are  ever-increasing  TEACHER 
in  power,  glory,  might,  dominion,  love,  ben- 
evolence, charity,  justice,  and  all  else  that 
can  make  for  the  increase  of  their  power  and 
glory.  In  which  strivings  and  achievements 
eternal  evil  is  present ;  makes  necessary  and 
possible,  in  fact,  the  very  strivings  and 
achievements;  and  is  the  "foil  on  which 
good  produces  itself,  and  becomes  known." 

THE  RELATIONSHIP  OF  INTEL- 
LIGENCES :  It  is  seen  that  our  Proph- 
et taught  the  eternity  of  Intelli- 
gences; and  that  they  are  not  only  not  cre- 
ated, but  uncreatable ;  that  though  they  dif- 
fer in  degree  of  intelligence,  of  knowledge, 
of  love,  hence  differ  also  in  power,  in  influ- 
ence, in  glory — in  all  that  comes  from  soul 
power.  The  presiding  Intelligence  to  that 
order  of  things  and  beings  to  which  we  be- 
long, is  represented  as  standing  among  the 
Intelligences  destined  to  our  earth,  "and 
among  these  there  were  many  of  the  noble 
and  great  ones."  And  the  Presiding  Intel- 
ligence said:  "These  I  will  make  my  Rulers; 
for  He  stood  among  those  that  were  spirits, 
and  He  saw  that  they  were  good."  "The 
noble  and  great  ones"  are  made  Rulers;  and 
doubtless  the  principle  here  operating  in  re- 
spect of  those  Intelligences  destined  to  our 

53 


JOSEPH  earth,  operates  in  all  worlds  and  world  sys- 
SMITH  terns.  Some  of  the  "Noble  and  Great  Ones" 
stand  at  the  head  of  worlds  and  groups  of 
worlds,  forming  Grand  Presidencies,  in  or- 
der and  gradation  based  upon  their  power 
and  appointment.  All  which  is  dependent 
upon  their  intelligence,  their  character,  their 
nobility  and  greatness — measured  by  their 
capacity  to  serve.  Each  one  of  such  "Rulers" 
— and  each  Intelligence,  in  fact — independ- 
ent in  the  sphere  in  which  he  is  appointed  to 
act,  yet  acting  in  harmony,  through  at- 
tainment of  the  knowledge  of  Truth, 
with  all  other  exalted  and  sanctified  souls 
— these  are  Gods,  or  the  Rulers  in  this 
Universe.  These  make  up  David's  "con- 
gregation of  the  Mighty,"  in  which  God, 
"More  intelligent  than  them  all,"  stand- 
eth  and  judgeth  "among  the  Gods." 
(Psalms  82 :  1.)  And  to  these,  in  their  several 
stations,  other  Intelligences  owe  loyalty, 
submission — call  it  worship  if  you  like;  at 
any  rate  it  must  be  unshaken  loyalty,  in  or- 
der to  attain  the  ends  proposed  in  all  "plans 
of  salvation,"  "gospels,"  "societies,"  "king- 
doms of  God,"  and  the  like,in  which  "plans," 
"gospels"  and  the  rest,  each  spirit  agreed 
and  covenanted  to  accept,  as  also  to  obey 
and  honor  those  appointed  to  direct  and 
bring  to  pass  that  which  was  ordained  in  the 
councils  of  Divine  Intelligences.  "At  the 
first  organization  in  heaven,"  said  the 

54 


Prophet,  speaking  with  reference  to  matters  THE 
pertaining  to  our  earth,  and  the  probation  PROPHET- 
of  spirits  upon  it  in  earth-life — "at  the  first  TEACHER 
organization  in  heaven  we  were  all  present, 
and  saw  the  Savior  chosen  and  appointed, 
and  the  plan  of  salvation  made,  and  we 
sanctioned  it.".  This  the  meaning  of  "man 
[the  race]  was  also  in  the  beginning  with 
God."  And  as  to  the  "Rulers,"  "Presiden- 
cies"— they  are  not  "Rulers"  in  the  worldly 
sense  of  those  words.    "Government"  here, 
"office"  in  the  "kingdom  of  God,"  means  op- 
portunity for  service,  not  of  mastery.   "Ye 
know  that  the  princes  of  the  Gentiles  exer- 
cise dominion  over  them,  and  they  that  are 
great  exercise  authority  upon  them.     But 
it  shall  not  be  so  among  you.     But  who- 
soever would  be  great  among  you,  let  him 
be  your  minister;  and  whosoever  will  be 
chief  among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant; 
even  as  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  min- 
istered unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give 
His  life  a  ransom  for  many."       So  Joseph 
Smith :  "The  powers  of  heaven  can  only  be 
controlled  upon  the  principles  of  righteous- 
ness.   When  men  undertake  to  cover  their 
sins  or  to  gratify  their  pride  or  vain  ambition 
or  exercise  control  or  dominion  or  compul- 
sion upon  the  souls  of  the  children  of  men  in 
any  degree  of  unrighteousness,  the  heavens 
withdraw  themselves,  the  spirit  of  the  Lord 
is  grieved,  and  when  it  is  withdrawn,  amen 

55 


JOSEPH  to  t*16  authority  of  that  man.    No  power  or 
SMITH    influence  can  or  ought  to  be  maintained  by 
virtue  of  the  Priesthood,  only  by  persuasion, 
by  long  suffering,  by  gentleness,  and  meek- 
ness, and  by  love  unfeigned;  by  kindness, 
and  pure  knowledge,  which  shall  greatly  en- 
large the  soul,  without  hypocrisy,  and  with- 
out guile." 
This,  the  principle  of  heavenly  rule. 

MAN'S  FREEDOM:  Through  all 
that  is  here  set  forth  as  Joseph 
Smith's  doctrines,  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  free  moral  agency  of  man  is 
regarded  as  a  reality.  First,  the  recog- 
nition of  man,  as  a  spirit,  being  a  self- 
existent  entity — not  a  created  thing ;  "man 
[i.  e ,  all  men,  the  race]  was  in  the 
beginning  with  God.  Intelligence,  or  the 
light  of  truth,  was  not  created  or  made, 
neither  indeed  can  be."  Then  second,  "All 
truth  is  independent  in  that  sphere  in  which 
God  has  placed  it,  to  act  for  itself,  as  all 
Intelligence  also,  otherwise  there  is  no  ex- 
istence. Behold,  here  is  the  agency  of  man, 
and  here  is  the  condemnation  of  man,  be- 
cause that  which  was  from  the  beginning 
is  plainly  manifest  unto  them,  and  they  re- 
ceive not  the  light.  And  every  man,  whose 
spirit  receiveth  not  the  light,  is  under  con- 
demnation, for  man  is  spirit." 
The  fact  of  free  moral  agency  runs  through 
56 


all  the  Prophet's  revelations  in  similar  spirit.    THE 
Indeed,  in  one  scripture  he  represents  the    pROp] 
chief  sin  of  Lucifer  as  being  an  attempt  to 
"destroy  the  agency  of  man ;"  and  for  which 
he  was  driven  forth  from  heaven.    The  ef- 
fect of  these  two  doctrines,  the  recognition 
of  the  spirit  of  man  as  an  eternal  being,  and 
his  being  a  free  moral  agent,  is  tremendous 
in  accounting  for  things.    Elsewhere,  con- 
trasting this  view  of  things  with  some  mod- 
ern Christian  views,  I  have  said:   As  mat- 
ters now  stand,  the  usually  accepted  Chris- 
tian doctrine  on  the  matter  of  man's  origin 
is  that  God  of  His  free-will  created  men. 
That  they  are  as  He  would  have  them,  since 
in  His  act  of  creation  He  could  have  had 
them  different  if  He  had  so  minded.    Then 
why  should  He — being  infinitely  wise  and 
infinitely  powerful,  and  infinitely  good — for 
so  the  creeds  represent  Him — why  should 
He  create  by  mere  act  of  volition,  beings 
such  as  men  are,  not  only  capable  of,  but 
prone  to,  moral  Evil?     Which,  in  the  last 
analysis  of  things,  in  spite    of    all    special 
pleadings  to  the  contrary,  leaves  responsi- 
bility for  moral  Evil  with  God?    God's  cre- 
ative acts  culminating  thus,  the  next  perti- 
nent questions  are:  Then  what  of  the  de- 
creed purpose  of  God  to  punish  moral  Evil? 
And  what  of  the  much-vaunted  justice  of         x 
God  in  that  punishment?    Wherein  lies  the 
just  responsibility  of  man  if  he  was  so  cre- 

57 


JOSEPH  ated  as  to  love  Evil  and  to  follow  it?"  It  is 
SMITH  revolting  to  reason,  as  it  is  shocking  to  piety, 
to  think  that  God,  of  His  own  free  will,  cre- 
ated some  men,  not  only  inclined  to  wick- 
edness, but  desperately  so  inclined;  while 
others  He,  of  His  own  volition,  created  with 
dispositions  naturally  inclined  toward  good- 
ness. In  like  manner  stands  it  with  man  in 
relation  to  his  inclination  to  faith,  and  to 
unbelief ;  and  yet,  under  the  orthodox  belief 
all  are  included  under  one  law  for  judgment ! 
On  the  other  hand,  under  the  conception  of 
the  existence  of  independent,  uncreated, 
self-existent  Intelligences,  who  by  the  inher- 
ent nature  of  them  are  of  various  degrees 
of  intelligence,  doubtless  differing  from  each 
other  in  many  ways,  yet  alike  in  their  eter- 
nity and  their  freedom;  with  God  standing 
in  the  midst  of  them,  "more  intelligent  than 
them  all,"  and  proposing  the  betterment  of 
their  condition — progress  to  higher  levels  of 
being,  and  power  through  change — under 
this  conception  of  things,  how  stand  mat- 
ters? Why,  ever  present  through  all 
changes,  through  all  the  processes  of  better- 
ment, is  the  self-existent  entity  of  the  "In- 
telligence" with  the  tremendous  fact  of  his 
consciousness  and  his  moral  freedom,  and 
his  indestructibility — he  has  his  choice  of 
moving  upward  or  downward  in  every  estate 
he  occupies;  often  defeating,  for  a  time,  at 
least,  even  the  benevolent  purposes  of  God 
58 


respecting  him,  through  his  own  perverse-  THE 
ness;  he  passes  through  dire  experiences,  PROPHET- 
suffers  terribly,  yet  learns  by  what  he  suf-  TEACHER 
fers,  so  that  his  very  suffering  becomes  a 
means  to  his  improvement;  he  learns  swift- 
ly or  slowly,  according  to  the  inherent  na- 
ture of  him,  obedience  to  law ;  he  learns  that 
"that  which  is  governed  by  law  is  also  pre- 
served by  law,  and  perfected  and  sanctified 
by  the  same;  and  that  which  breaketh  the 
law  and  abideth  not  by  law,  but  seeketh  to 
become  a  law  unto  itself,  and  willeth  to  abide 
in  sin,  cannot  be  sanctified  by  law,  neither  by 
mercy,  justice  nor  judgment.  Therefore 
they  must  remain  filthy  still."  This  con- 
ception of  things  relieves  God  of  the  respon- 
sibility for  the  nature  and  status  of  intelli- 
gences in  all  stages  of  their  development; 
their  inherent  nature  and  their  volition 
makes  them  primarily  what  they  are,  and 
this  nature  they  may  change,  slowly,  per- 
haps, yet  change  it  they  may.  God  has  put 
them  in  the  way  of  changing  it,  by  enlarging 
their  intelligence  through  change  of  en- 
vironment, through  experiences;  the  only 
way  God  effects  these  self-existent  beings  is 
favorably;  He  creates  not  their  inherent  na- 
ture ;  He  is  not  responsible  for  the  use  they 
make  of  their  freedom ;  nor  is  He  the  author 
of  their  sufferings  when  they  fall  into  sin: 
that  arises  out  of  the  violations  of  law,  to 
which  the  "Intelligence"  subscribed,  and 

59 


JOSEPH  must  be  endured  until  the  lessons  of  obedi- 

SMITH    ence  to  law  are  learned. 

This  conception  of  the  order  of  things,  as 
to  the  existence  of  "Intelligences"  and  in 
the  moral  government  of  the  world,  discov- 
ers a  harmony  in  that  government  which  at 
once  challenges  our  admiration,  and  bears 
evidence  of  its  truth. 

ETERNITY  OF  RELATIONSHIPS: 
Matching  these  eternal  things,  an 
eternal  universe,  eternal  spirit  entities, 
eternal  good,  with  its  background  of  eternal 
evil, — eternal  law,  agency  and  the  like,  is 
the  Prophet's  doctrine  of  eternal  relations. 
Intelligences  are  begotten  spirits;  spirits 
are  begotten  men  and  women;  these  be- 
come resurrected  and  Exalted  personages, 
spirit  and  element  in  them  being  eternally 
united,  whence  proceeds  the  fulness  of  joy, 
and  glory,  and  power.  The  Prophet  taught 
that  these  relations,  under  which  such  beget- 
tings  proceed  in  celestial  worlds,  are  them- 
selves eternal.  The  marriage  covenant  which 
united  immortal  beings  is  eternal,  hence  the 
eternity  of  the  marriage  covenant  which 
Joseph  Smith  introduced  in  our  dispensa- 
tion, called  the  "New  and  Everlasting  Cov- 
enant of  Marriage,"  by  which  marriages, 
under  the  law  of  God,  are  made  in  our  sa- 
cred places  for  time  and  eternity.  Thus  the 
relationships  of  exalted  Intelligences  is  also 
60 


a  thing  regulated  and  sanctified  by  law;  THE 
and  from  these  relations    come    the    fam-  PK 
ily,  a  permanent,  eternal  institution ;  whence 
spring,  also,    all    other    relationships    ex- 
isting among  the  exalted  Intelligences  of 
all  worlds  and  world-systems ;  until,  indeed, 
all  are  bound  and  united  together  in  bonds 
of    relationships    founded    on  mutual  cov- 
enants and  agreements,  and  sanctified  by 
love  and  sympathy. 

We  may  not  persue  this  division  of  our  sub- 
ject further  now.  I  merely  call  your  atten- 
tion to  these  doctrines  of  the  Prophet,  with- 
out making  any  attempt  to  weave  them 
into  a  system  of  philosophy  of  things,  or  of 
sentient  existences ;  but  I  am  persuaded  that 
these  doctrines  set  forth  by  the  Prophet- 
Teacher  of  our  dispensation,  not  indeed  as 
the  result  of  his  own,  human  meditation, 
but  based  upon  knowledge  which  God  re- 
vealed to  him — therefore,  coming  with  di- 
vine sanction — I  am  persuaded,  I  say,  that 
these  doctrines  contain  the  elements  of  a 
physical,  moral  and  spiritual  philosophy  that 
will  be  the  accepted  philosophy  of  the  New 
Age  now  dawning  upon  our  world;  a  philo- 
sophy that  will  supersede  all  other  philoso- 
phies and  remain  steadfast  in  both  the  be- 
liefs and  affections  of  mankind.  The  ele- 
ments, I  say,  are  here  in  these  doctrines; 
they  await  only  some  future  Spencer  to 
weave  them  into  synthetic  completeness, 

61 


EPH  that  shall  be  as  beautiful  as  it  will  be  true, 
to  make  that  philosophy  acceptable  to  the 
higher  intellects  of  our  age. 

VII. 

THE  PROPHET'S   GENERALIZA- 
TIONS. 

A  WORD  in  relation  to  the  manner 
of  the  Prophet's  teaching.  It  was 
unique  in  its  way.  He  may  scarce- 
ly be  said  to  have  made  any  attempt  at  cre- 
ating a  system  of  philosophy  however 
much  may  be  said  for  his  system  of  religion 
and  of  ecclesiastical  government.  His  phil- 
osophical principles  were  flung  off  in  utter- 
ances without  reference  to  any  arrangement 
or  orderly  sequence;  and  in  the  main  were 
taught  in  independent  aphorisms,  which  is 
a  remarkably  effective  way  of  teaching,  for 
an  aphorism  resembles  the  proverb,  and  is 
a  form  in  which  Truth  is  bound  to  live.  It 
is  the  American  philosopher  Emerson,  I 
think,  who  describes  a  proverb  to  be  the 
language  of  absolute  Truth — the  statement 
of  Truth  without  qualification.  It  is  the  lit- 
erature of  power.  Fortunate,  indeed,  is  the 
man  who  gives  a  people  or  nation  a  proverb ; 
and  so,  too,  is  the  nation  or  people  fortunate 
who  receive  it.  Like  mercy,  it  is  twice 
blessed,  it  blesseth  him  that  gives  and  him 
that  takes.  Usually  proverbs  are  produced 
62 


by  a  race's  experience.  Proverbs  come  up 
out  of  the  tribulations  of  a  people.  They  are  PROP 
produced  slowly  and  represent  the  hived 
wisdom  of  the  ages.  Books  of  proverbs  are 
not  written  by  men,  to  whom  they  are  some- 
times ascribed,  they  represent  a  collection 
slowly  produced  through  centuries.  Such 
are  the  proverbs  of  our  Bible;  proverbs  of 
the  Chinese  classics;  and  the  proverbs  of 
the  Hindoo  literature.  Joseph  Smith  gave 
to  his  age  many  of  these  generalized  truths, 
more,  I  think,  than  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of 
any  other  teacher,  save  Jesus,  the  Christ.  I 
can  but  repeat  a  few  of  these  as  examples: 

"The  glory  of  God  is  intelligence." 

"It  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  be  saved  in 
ignorance." 

"A  man  is  saved  no  faster  than  he  gets 
knowledge." 

"Knowledge  saves  a  man,  and  in  the  world 
of  spirits  no  man  can  be  exalted  but  by 
knowledge." 

"Whatsoever  principle  of  intelligence  we 
attain  unto  in  this  life  will  rise  with  us  in 
the  resurrection." 

"If  one  man,  by  his  diligence,  obtains  more 
knowledge  than  another,  he  will  have  so 
much  the  advantage  in  the  world  to  come." 

"There  is  a  law  irrevocably  decreed  in 
heaven  before  the  foundations  of  this  world, 
upon  which  all  blessings  are  predicated ;  and 

63 


JOSEPH  when  we  obtain  any  blessing  from  God,  it  is 
SMITH  by  obedience  to  that  law  on  which  it  is  pred- 
icated." 

"Adam  fell  that  man  might  be,  and  men 
are  that  they  might  have  joy." 

"This  is  the  glory  of  God — to  bring  to 
pass  the  immortality  and  the  eternal  life  of 
man." 

"The  elements  are  eternal,  yea,  the  ele- 
ments are  the  tabernacle  of  God.  Man  is 
the  tabernacle  of  God,  even  temples." 

"The  elements  are  eternal,  and  spirit  and 
element,  inseparably  united,  receive  a  ful- 
ness of  joy  [Hence  the  importance  of  man's 
earth  life  in  which  spirit  is  united  to  earthly 
elements.] 

"If  men  do  not  comprehend  the  character 
of  God,  they  do  not  comprehend  them- 
selves." 

"God  Himself  was  once  as  we  are  now ;  and 
Is  an  exalted  Man ;  for  Adam  was  created  in 
the  very  fashion,  image  and  likeness  of 
God." 

"The  spirit  of  man  is  not  a  created  being; 
it  existed  from  eternity,  and  will  exist  to 
eternity.  Anything  created  cannot  be  eter- 
nal." 

"The  spirit  and  the  body  is  the  soul  of  man; 
and  the  resurrection  from  the  dead  is  the 
redemption  of  the  soul." 

"It  is  the  first  principle  of  the  Gospel  to 
Imow  for  a  certainty  the  character  of  God, 
64 


and  to  know  that  we  may  converse  with  THE 
Him  as  one  man  converses  with  another."     PROPHET- 

"Jesus  was  in  the  beginning  with  the  Path-  TEACHER 
er.     *     *     *     Man  was  also  in  the  begin- 
ning with  God.    Intelligence,  or  the  light  of 
truth,  was  not  created  or  made,  neither  in- 
deed can  be." 

"Jesus  treads  in  the  footsteps  of  His  Fath- 
er, and  inherits  what  God  did  before;  and 
God  is  thus  glorified  and  exalted  in  the  sal- 
vation and  exaltation  of  all  His  children." 

"The  things  of  God  are  of  deep  import ;  and 
time  and  experience  and  careful  and  ponder- 
ous and  solemn  thoughts  can  only  find  them 
out.  Thy  mind,  O  man,  if  thou  wilt  lead  a  soul 
unto  salvation,  must  stretch  as  high  as  the 
utmost  heavens  and  search  into  and  contem- 
plate the  darkest  abyss  and  the  broad  ex- 
panse of  eternity — thou  must  commune  with 
God!" 

The  Prophet  represents  God  as  saying:  "I 
give  unto  men  weaknesses  that  they  might 
be  humble,  and  my  grace  is  sufficient  for  all 
those  who  humble  themselves  before  me." 

To  one  who  inquired  how  he  governed 
men  so  well,  he  said:  "I  do  not  govern 
them:  I  teach  men  correct  principles,  and 
they  govern  themselves." 

These  sayings,  with  many  others  of  like 
character,  in  the  future  literature  of  Amer- 
ica, philosophical  and  religious,  will  make 

65 


JOSEPH  its  pages  blaze  with  glory.  They  are  des- 
tined to  become  generally  accepted  princi- 
ples of  truth.  They  will  become  household 
aphorisms.  They  are  words  spoken  by  in- 
spiration of  God.  They  come  from  what 
Carlyle  calls,  "the  inner  Fact  of  things." 
They  will  live  to  influence  the  future  gen- 
erations of  America,  and  of  men  every- 
where. 

VIII. 

AN  AMERICAN  PROPHET. 

AMERICA  THE  "OLD  WORLD:" 
There  is  one  more  thought  I  would 
like  to  present  to  you  respecting  this 
Prophet,  Joseph  Smith.    He  is  pre-eminent- 
ly the  American  Prophet.     He  is   not  the 
"boy  prophet ;"  I  dislike  that  term.  He  is  not 
the  "Prophet  of  Palmyra;"  he  is  the  Prophet 
of  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  times; 
if  localized  at  all  he  must  be  known  as  the 
"American  Prophet." 

Never  was  greater  mistake  made  than  to 
suppose  that  the  disciples  of  Joseph  Smith 
could  be  unpatriotic  Americans.  They  must 
be  ardently  patriotic  Americans.  That  this 
is  true,  let  me  a  little  show  it.  A  line  in  one 
of  our  hymns  runs: 

"For  in  Adam-ondi-Ahman, 
Zion  rose  where  Eden  was." 

66 


What  is  the  meaning  of  this?  It  means  that  THE 
the  Prophet  taught  that  the  American  con-  PROPHET- 
tinents  are  not  the  New  World,  but  the  Old;  TEACHER 
that  Eden  was  here  in  America.     Adam- 
ondi-Ahman,  the  place  where  Adam  dwelt 
after  being  driven  from  Eden,  the  Prophet 
declared  to  be  in  Missouri,  in  the  valley  of 
the  Grand  River.  He  represents  a  gathering 
together  there  of  the  patriarchs  of  the  ante- 
diluvian age:  and  tells  how  they  blessed 
Adam,  or  "Michael,"  the  "Ancient  of  Days;" 
and  Adam  rose  among  them  and  blessed  the 
patriarchs,    his    posterity,    and    told    what 
should  befall  them  to  their  latest  genera- 
tions. 

Among  the  Patriarchs  Enoch  was  pre-emi- 
nent for  righteousness.  He,  in  this  western 
hemisphere,  founded  a  city,  sanctified  it, 
and  called  it  "Zion,"  the  abode  of  the  pure 
in  heart;  "for  this  is  Zion" — wherein  that 
word  relates  to  a  people — "the  pure  in 
heart."  Hence  "Zion  rose  where  Eden 
was,"  here  in  America.  But  in  the  course 
of  time  "Enoch  walked  with  God:  and  he 
was  not;  for  God  took  him."  That  is,  ac- 
cording to  Paul,  God  translated  him,  that  he 
should  not  see  death  (Gen.  v;  Heb.  xi) ;  and 
according  to  Joseph  Smith,  this  happened  to 
his  city  also ;  hence  the  saying,  "Zion's  fled." 

Then  after  the  Flood,  the  Lord  led  to 
these  Western  continents  the  Jaredite  colony 
from  the  Euphrates  valley;  and  sixteen  cen- 

67 


JOSEPH  turies  later  the  Nephite  colony  from  Jeru- 
SMITH  salem.  In  each  case  the  Lord  declared  to 
the  peoples  so  led  to  the  Western  world 
that  it  was  "a  choice  land  above  all 
other  lands."  The  Savior,  in  the  most 
glorious  manner,  after  His  resurrection 
from  the  dead,  visited  these  blessed  West- 
ern Continents  and  declared  that  here 
should  be  built  a  Holy  City  by  the  united 
efforts  of  the  house  of  Israel,  chiefly 
the  descendants  of  the  Patriarch  Joseph,  of 
Egyptian  fame,  and  the  Gentile  races  who 
have  right  to  an  inheritance  in  the  land ;  and 
the  City  should  be  called  "Zion,"  a  "New 
Jerusalem."  The  "Zion"  from  which  "the 
law  should  go  forth,"  as  the  word  of  the 
Lord  should  go  forth  from  Old  Jerusalem. 
Because  of  the  future  establishment  of  this 
city,  of  Zion,  upon  these  western  continents, 
as  also  on  account  of  Enoch's  Zion,  they  are 
called  the  "Land  of  Zion." 

THE    CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 
UNITED  STATES  INSPIRED  OF 
GOD :    Joseph  Smith  also  taught  that 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
a  God-inspired  instrument.  "It  is  not  right," 
he  represents  the  Lord  as  saying,  "that  one 
man  should  be  in  bondage  to  another ;"  and 
hence  the  Constitution  should  be  maintained 
for  the  preservation  of  the  rights,  and  the 
protection  of  all  flesh,  "according  to  just  and 

68 


holy  principles,  that  every  man  may  act  inTHE 
doctrine  and  principle,  pertaining  to  futur-PROP] 
ity,  according  to  the  moral  agency  which  ITEAC] 
[the  Lord]  have  given  unto  him,  that  every 
man  may  be  accountable  for  his  own  sins  in 
the  day  of  judgment.  And  for  this  purpose 
have  I  established  the  Constitution  of  this 
land  by  the  hands  of  wise  men  whom  I 
raised  up  unto  this  very  purpose." 
So  Joseph  Smith's  disciples  hold  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  to  be  inspired 
of  God.  I  think  sometimes,  however,  that  we 
do  not  realize  all  that  this  truth  means.  We 
are  apt  to  think  of  things  in  mass,  and  do 
not  take  the  time  to  analyze  them.  What 
does  it  mean  to  say  that  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  is  an  inspired  instrument? 
Undoubtedly,  it  means  primarily  that  God 
recognizes  the  right  of  the  people,  in  their 
political  capacity,  to  govern  themselves.  It 
expresses  the  divine  belief,  so  to  speak,  in 
the  capacity  of  man  for  self-government.  It 
means  that  the  people  in  their  political  af- 
fairs are  sovereign ;  for  this  is  the  chief  thing 
which  distinguishes  the  American  govern- 
ment from  other  political  systems  of  govern- 
ment. We  are  not  always  happy  in  our 
forms  of  expression.  We  do  not  make  our 
terminology  always  meet  our  ideas.  In 
spite  of  the  fact  just  alluded  to — viz.,  the 
people  are  sovereign,  we  talk  of,  and  pray 
for,  "those  who  rule  over  us,"  meaning  pres- 

69 


>H  idents,  cabinets,  senators,  governors,  ,  and 
the  like;  but  these  are  not  "rulers,"  they 
are  the  people's  servants,  elected  for  a  lim- 
ited time  to  administer  government  accord- 
ing to  law,  under  the  provisions  of  our  Con- 
stitution; but  they  serve,  they  do  not  rule. 
The  people  are  sovereign,  and  the  people 
alone  are  rulers,  and  they  appoint  or  elect 
their  servants.  Moreover,  this  Constitution 
provides  for  the  freedom  of  the  press;  for 
freedom  of  speech;  for  freedom  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  individual.  It  guarantees  re- 
ligious liberty,  hence  a  free  church,  as  well  as 
a  free  state,  each  independent  of  and  separate 
from  the  other.  The  government  is  an  in- 
destructible Union,  composed  of  indestruct- 
ible States.  To  hold  that  the  Constitution 
which  provides  for  these  things,  is  inspired 
of  God,  is  to  hold  that  each  of  these  separate 
things,  as  well  as  the  thing  in  mass,  is  or- 
dained of  God  by  the  hands  of  wise  men 
whom  He  raised  up  to  establish  this  system 
of  government;  and  to  deny  to  the  people 
the  enjoyment  of  these  several  rights,  to 
undertake,  by  any  means  whatsoever,  to 
thwart  the  realization  of  government  by  the 
people,  to  attempt  to  defeat  the  expression 
of  their  will,  or  make  it  result  different  from 
what  their  untrammeled  judgment  would 
have  it,  is  to  make  an  infraction  upon  the 
things  that  have  been  ordained  of  God. 
In  the  above  quotation  concerning  the  sys- 
70 


tern  of  Government  established  by  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  being  inspired 
of  God,  we  may  discern  the  purpose  of  God 
in  the  establishment  of  such  a  government. 
That  purpose  is  that  every  man  may  become 
directly  and  personally  responsible  to  God 
for  his  actions  in  matters  relating  to  civil 
government — "that  every  man  may  be  ac- 
countable for  his  own  sins  in  the  day  of 
judgment."  The  principle  is,  however,  more 
fully  developed  in  the  Book  of  Mormon  than 
in  the  quotation  here  considered.  The  in- 
cident which  develops  the  principle  occurs 
in  the  reign  of  the  first  Mosiah,  and  at  a 
period  that  corresponds  with  the  latter  half 
of  the  second  century  B.  C.  The  old  king 
proposed  to  his  people  a  revolution  in  the 
form  of  government  by  which  monarchy 
should  be  abandoned  and  a  republican  form 
of  government  established  in  its  place.  In 
urging  this  revolutionary  measure  the  good 
king  said : 


THE 

PROPHET 

TEACHER 


"It  is  not  common  that  the  voice  of  the 
people  desireth  anything  contrary  to  that 
which  is  right;  but  it  is  common  for  the 
lesser  part  of  the  people  to  desire  that  which 
is  not  right;  therefore  this  shall  ye  observe, 
and  make  it  your  law,  to  do  your  business  by 
the  voice  of  the  people.  And  if  the  time 
comes  that  the  voice  of  the  people  doth 
choose  iniquity,  then  is  the  time  that  the 

71 


JOSEPH 

SMITH  Judgments  °f  God  will  come  upon  you, 
yea,  then  is  the  time  He  will  visit  you  with 
great  destruction,  even  as  He  has  hitherto 
visited  this  land.  *  *  *  And  I  com- 
mand you  to  do  these  things  in  the  fear  of 
the  Lord;  and  I  command  you  to  do  these 
things, and  that  ye  have  no  king; that  if  these 
people  commit  sins  and  iniquities,  they  shall 
be  answered  upon  their  own  heads.  For  be- 
hold, I  say  unto  you,  the  sins  of  many  people 
have  been  caused  by  the  iniquities  of  their 
kings;  therefore  their  iniquities  are  an- 
swered upon  the  heads  of  their  kings.  And 
now  I  desire  that  this  inequality  should  be 
no  more  in  this  land,  especially  among  this 
my  people;  but  I  desire  that  this  be  a  land 
of  liberty,  that  every  man  may  enjoy  his 
rights  and  privileges  alike,  so  long  as  the 
Lord  sees  fit  that  we  may  live  and  inherit 
the  land;  yea,  even  as  long  as  any  of  our 
posterity  remains  upon  the  face  of  the  land." 

But  in  order  that  this  element  of  moral  re- 
sponsibility may  be  brought  into  civil  gov- 
ernment, it  stands  to  reason  that  every  indi- 
vidual must  be  free  and  untrammeled  in  the 
exercise  of  his  political  duties,  including  the 
casting  of  his  vote.  Each  individual  must 
have  an  equal  voice  in  the  government.  Ev- 
ery man  must  be  a  sovereign  in  the  civil  in- 
stitution, and  his  vote  must  represent  the 
voice  and  judgment  of  a  free  man.  A  vote 
72 


unawed  by  influence,  and  uncoerced  by  any  THE 
power  whatsoever.  Less  than  this  would  * 
convert  the  whole  scheme  of  government  bv  1 
the  voice  of  the  people  into  mockery.  Under 
a  system  of  government  by  the  people,  in  or- 
der to  retain  the  element  of  moral  responsi- 
bility of  the  people  in  civil  affairs,  there  must 
be  no  appeal  but  to  the  intelligent  judgment 
of  the  individual.  Each  man's  act  must  be  the 
act  of  a  free  man ;  and  those  who  would  cor- 
rupt the  electorate  of  a  government  where 
the  people  rule,  or  sway  it  by  any  other  force 
than  by  an  appeal  to  reason,  would  destroy 
this  element  of  personal,  moral  responsibil- 
ity in  civil  government,  and  in  the  case  of 
those  of  us  who  accept  this  book  from  which 
I  am  quoting — if  we  would  appeal  to  any 
other  force  than  to  that  of  reason  or  resort 
to  any  species  of  coercion,  we  would  be  set- 
ting ourselves  against  an  order  of  things 
that  God  has  ordained. 

Adherence  to  these  principles  is  pure 
Americanism.  This  is  constitutional  mor- 
ality. This  is  both  the  principle  and  the 
policy  that  will  most  inure  to  the  perpetua- 
tion of  our  free  institutions.  This  is  the 
sheet-anchor  of  our  safety  as  a  nation — our 
surest  guarantee  of  God's  favor.  The  man 
who  promulgated  this  doctrine  of  individual, 
personal  responsibility  to  God  in  the  affairs 
of  civil  government,  where  the  people  rule, 
is  worthy  to  be  numbered  among  the  great- 

73 


JOSEPH  est     of    American     statesmen,     American 
SMITH   teachers,  American  prophets ! 

It  means  a  great  deal,  this  idea  that  the 

Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  inspired 

of  God! 

AMERICA    FORTIFIED    OF    GOD 
AGAINST  OTHER  NATIONS:  Not 
only  did  the  Prophet  teach  the  doc- 
trine that  the  United  States  Constitution  was 
inspired  of  God,  but  he  tells  us  through  the 
Book  of  Mormon  that  God  has  fortified  this 
land  against  all  other  nations.     I  will  read 
you  the  passage.    The  Lord  said  to  Lehi : 

"Behold,  this  land  shall  be  the  land  of 
thine  inheritance,  and  the  Gentiles  shall 
be  blessed  upon  the  land.  This  land 
shall  be  a  land  of  liberty  unto  the  Gentiles, 
and  there  shall  be  no  kings  upon  the  land 
who  shall  raise  up  unto  the  Gentiles.  And 
I  will  fortify  this  land  against  all  other  na- 
tions, and  he  that  fighteth  against  Zion 
[these  continents  of  the  western  world] 
shall  perish,  saith  God;  for  he  that  raiseth 
up  a  king  against  me  shall  perish,  for  I,  the 
Lord,  the  King  of  Heaven,  will  be  their 
King,  and  I  will  be  a  light  unto  them  forever 
that  hear  my  words." 

This  guarantee,  however,    this   fortifying 
this  land  against  all  other  nations,  is  upon 
74 


a  certain  condition:  the  condition  that  the  THE 
"God  of  the  land,  who  is  Jesus  Christ,"  shall  PROPHET- 
be  honored  by  them.    On  this  head  I  want  TEACHER 
to  read  to  you  a  passage  from  a  certain 
American    statesman,    that    I    can    easily 
believe  was  one  of  the  God-inspired  men  ap- 
pointed  to   assist   in   the   maintenance   of 
true  constitutional  principles,  as  others  were 
inspired  to  found  the  Constitution.    I  refer 
to  the  great  statesman  of  nationalism,  Daniel 
Webster,  who,  before  the  New  York  His- 
torical society,  in  1852,  in  his  last  public  ad- 
dress, said: 

"Unborn  ages  and  visions  of  glory  crowd 
upon  my  soul,  the  realization  of  all  which, 
however,  is  in  the  hands  and  good  pleasure 
of  Almighty  God;  but,  under  His  divine 
blessing,  it  will  be  dependent  on  the  char- 
acter and  the  virtues  of  ourselves,  and  of 
our  posterity.  If  classical  history  has  been 
found  to  be,  is  now,  and  shall  continue  to  be, 
the  concomitant  of  free  institutions,  and 
of  popular  eloquence,  what  a  field  is  open- 
ing to  us  for  another  Herodotus,  another 
Thucydides,  and  another  Livy ! 

"And  let  me  say,  gentlemen,  that  if  we  and 
our  posterity  shall  be  true  to  the  Christian 
religion — if  we  and  they  shall  live  always  in 
the  fear  of  God,  and  shall  respect  His  com- 
mandments— if  we  and  they  shall  maintain 
just,  moral  sentiments,  and  such  conscien- 

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;PH  tious  convictions  of  duty  as  shall  control  the 
heart  and  life — we  may  have  the  highest 
hopes  of  the  future  fortunes  of  our  country, 
and  if  we  maintain  those  institutions  of  gov- 
ernment and  that  political  union,  exceeding 
all  praise  as  much  as  it  exceeds  all  former 
examples  of  political  associations,  we  may 
be  sure  of  one  thing — that,  while  our  coun- 
try furnishes  materials  for  a  thousand  mas- 
ters of  the  historic  art,  it  will  afford  no  topic 
for  a  Gibbon.  It  will  have  no  decline  and 
fall.  It  will  go  on  prospering  and  to  pros- 
per. 

"But  if  we  and  our  posterity  reject  religious 
instruction  and  authority,  violate  the  rules 
of  eternal  justice,  trifle  with  the  injunctions 
of  morality,  and  recklessly  destroy  the  polit- 
ical Constitution  which  holds  us  together, 
no  man  can  tell  how  sudden  a  catastrophe 
may  overwhelm  us,  that  shall  bury  all  our 
glory  in  profound  obscurity.  Should  that 
catastrophe  happen,  let  it  have  no  history! 
Let  the  horrible  narrative  never  be  written  ? 
Let  its  fate  be  like  that  of  the  lost  books  of 
Livy,  which  no  human  eye  shall  ever  read; 
or  the  missing  Pleiad,  of  which  no  man  can 
ever  know  more,  than  that  it  is  lost,  and 
lost  forever!" 

Such  were  the  sentiments  of  this  patriotic 
statesman;  but  the  beautiful  and  flowing 
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periods  in  which  he  expresses  his  thought,    THE 
are  in  no  respects  better  or  stronger,  or    PROPE 
more  patriotic  than  the  rugged  utterances     TEACHER 
of    Joseph    Smith,    in    whose    utterances 
throughout  our  sacred  books,  there  is  a 
wealth  of  pure  American  sentiment  that  is 
the  basis  of  a  patriotism  that  shall  yet  ex- 
ceed all  praise. 

In  view  of  all  that  is  here  set  forth,  I  sub- 
mit that  Joseph  Smith  was  pre-eminently 
the  American  Prophet. 

Standing  in  the  midst  of  these  ideas  to 
which  we  have  ascended  in  thought  about 
this  man  and  his  life's  work,  all  which  tend 
to  establish  his  claims  as  a  Prophet — "a 
Teacher  sent  of  God" — how  unworthy  indeed 
seem  the  attempts  of  men  to  stay  his  work, 
or  defame  his  character  by  their  silly 
misrepresentations!  We  hear  a  babel  of 
confused  voices  coming  up  from  the  past, 
"pelting  his  memory  with  their  unsavory 
epithets,"  but  all  is  vain ;  he  may  not  be  dis- 
posed of  in  such  manner. 

Meanwhile,  the  truths  he  taught  will  live 
to  instruct  mankind,  and  of  Joseph  Smith 
it  will  yet  be  said — as  Josiah  Quincy  half 
predicted  sixty-three  years  ago — He  influ- 
enced his  countrymen  more  than  any  other 
historical  American  of  his  time. 


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